Does Tariceanu Quit?

The PM lied every time he had been caught making intercessions for Patriciu. He lied about the meetings at the Victoria Palace with Patriciu and Macovei. He lied when he called at the Prosecutors’ Office for friend Dinu. He lied when he bought shares at Rompetrol for a special low price. Now, he says the note he is supposed to have sent to the President does not exist. Will Tariceanu resign if the note shows up?

Each time PM Tariceanu used his political power to help friend Dinu Patriciu he lied to the press. He did the same thing when he talked about the deals between the two.

"PHONE" DEAL. In November 2005, a few days after resigning from Cotroceni, Elena Udrea makes the first important statements regarding Tariceanu cutting in for Dinu Patriciu. As a guest on Ion Crisotiu’s show on Antena 3, Udrea asks rhetorically: "Did anyone ask Tariceanu whether he had called the D.A. on the day of Patriciu’s arrest to make an intercession for his friend?"

At first, the PM answers with the help of the spokesperson, and then he does it personally, when he says he had called the General prosecutor, Ilie Botos, in order to get informed on the juridical status of his friend" due to the fact that he is one of the greatest contributors, as far as the GDP is concerned. During a TV show, Tariceanu says he had talked to Prosecutor Botos on other different occasions as well and he had been called by Botos and "informed about the arrest of other people". Botos denies: "we don’t discuss about this with nobody". He adds he hadn’t talked to Tariceanu on other cases either. The general prosecutor at that time emphasizes "he doesn’t agree with being called by the Government leader, because only the Courts of Law are allowed to demand such information". Moreover, "the valid legislation limits the access of the hierarchic prosecutors to their subalterns’ files", he shows.

THE SCM REPORT. However, the PM still says he hadn’t got involved in the police business. For that he refers to the SCM (The Supreme Court of Magistracy) report regarding the respective phone call, the document which he had sent to Jurnalul National yesterday. This is no more than a very subjective interpretation of the report which doesn’t say the PM is innocent. The report truly shows that the phone call didn’t affect the independence of the prosecutor, but thus happened because the "prosecutor did not intervene in the investigation". As fore the PM’s gesture, the Council says clearly: "By the way in which certain politicians try to get informed on certain files, unjustified pressure can be caused. In order to solve these situations, the magistrates have to intervene, as well as the other representatives of the state’s powers, who have to abide by the Constitution and the laws regarding the justice reform", the SCM report shows. This also contains the situations in which Tariceanu would have been allowed to ask for more information.

"ABUSE". Actually, Tariceanu made more explicit public interventions by saying "Patriciu’s arrest was surprising and unwanted" and by wishing that would have been the only time. One month later, during a speech to the Parliament, the PM characterized the arrest of Dinu Patriciu as an "abuse".

SECRET MEETINGS. In January 2006, Jurnalul National revealed another action of PM Tariceanu for friend, as compromising as the first one: Tariceanu called Monica Macovei to the Government headquarters, for a meeting in three with Dinu Patriciu to discuss his file. Tariceanu denied it saying he had met the Rompetrol president after he had threatened to sue Romania, because the Romanian authorities had abused him and his company. Calin Popescu Tariceanu got denied by the other people taking part in the discussion, including his friend, who had admitted the meeting had taken place at the PM’s request. Monica Macovei was much more firm: she confirms the meeting on the 5th of June had been requested by the Prime Minister. As for the issue of the discussion mentioned by Tariceanu, the suing of Romania, the Minister of Justice answers: "I don’t remember if anyone talked about this during that meeting". However, she admitted there was a discussion on the investigation, Patriciu having complained about his procedural rights and talked about the complex economical matters in the file.

THE TRIAL. Last year, Jurnalul National published information according to which there have been five such meetings to discuss the Rompetrol file. The sources of this information are the same as the ones that told about the 5th of June meeting. In order to prove the published data, Jurnalul asked the help of the Government with some data from the Victoria Palace. The Government refused, and Jurnalul National brought this to Court.

THE "STOCK EXCHANGE" DEAL. Tariceanu also lied when Jurnalul National revealed the way the PM illegally bought shares at Rompetrol Rafinare, in April 2004, this strange transaction being the reason for which Dinu Patriciu together with 11 other people were sent to Court. Tariceanu bought 10 million Rompetrol Rafinare shares, but he lied about the source of the information saying he got the lead from a financial newspaper, Ziarul Financiar. The lie was confirmed by the official Stock Exchange report exclusively published by Jurnalul National: the Prime Minister didn’t buy shares listed at the SE, but certain shares kept by Patriciu especially for him. Also, he used the Deal market. According to the 4.6 procedure of the SE, the Deal market is destined to the "great transactions that have already been negotiated by the Stock Exchange dealers". Therefore, Tariceanu had negotiated the package with Patriciu, he hadn’t read the information in the newspapers. Another lie: the PM says he had bought for a higher price than the one on the SE. According to the same report, he bought for a lower price: 500 lei per share instead of 520 lei. The shares that he sold afterwards meant a profit of approximately four billion lei, according to the specialists.

A POINT OF HONOR. This time, regarding the issue of the note sent to Basescu to make an intercession at the prosecutor’s office for Patriciu, the PM chose to deny. Traian Basescu confirmed the existence of it and asked the Cotroceni staff to find it. Will the PM honorably resign when the note will appear in public?