Munaf’s Disclosures at Camp Crooper

While captive in Camp Crooper in Baghdad, Iraqi Mohamad Munaf told to the Romanian authorities all the things he knew about the deals of his friend Omar Hayssam. His confessions have audio and video recordings made by the USA and they contain important names, representative for the social-economical-political life, that have collaborated with the Syrian. The name of Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu appears in the "very good relations" rubric.

The Romanian magistrates could sentence Mohammad Munaf for any crime and it wouldn’t mean more than half of the punishment mentioned in the law. In a deal with the Romanians authorities, Munaf, businessman with Iraqi and American citizenship, called the 19th article in the Witness Protection Law, which says that the person who gives important information to the Romanian authorities on the crimes committed by other people has to be sentenced to only half of the normal punishment.

RECORDING

Munaf is under the custody of the Coalition of the Multinational Forces in Iraq and it was impossible for him to be extradited in Romania, according to the explanations from the Minister of Justice, Monica Macovei. This is because of the opposing positions of the USA and Iraq, which made our request go from one state to the other. The conclusion was for the hearing to take place in Iraq and for Munaf to take part in the Lawsuit using the video-conference. Why not in Romania? Possibly because he gave important information on the identification and annihilation of the international guns trade network in which Romanian citizens are involved as well. The hearing took place at Camp Crooper fort, right after he had been arrested in Iraq for accessory to the kidnapping of the Romanian journalists in Baghdad. The American authorities have audio and video recordings of all the talks with the Iraqi.

OMAR THE SPY

Munaf said Omar Hayssam had known he was being monitored by the American secret services. The Syrian knew he was being followed for "espionage against the United States of America". The Americans kept him under a "special treatment", because he had financed several terrorist cells that used to act against the USA. Munaf said the scandalous search made by the Romanian authorities at Omar Hayssam’s house was also a result of the pressures of the American secret services.

CORDIAL RELATIONS

PM Calin Popescu Tariceanu is one of the people that are said to have had relations with Omar Hayssam. Munaf said they had met him before 1989, while he was a student at the Bucharest Construction Faculty, where Tariceanu was tutoring. They used to cal him "Teach’" and they related pretty well. "Very well. More than just cordially". Munaf’s confessions also talk about Omar’s relations with Ion Iliescu and other important members of SDP (the Social Democratic Party) as well as of other political parties.

COMPENSATIONS FOR IMAN-T

According to DIICOT (the Directorate for the Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism), Omar Hayssam (photo) has left Romania on the 30th of June aboard Iman-T, a ship owned by Mustafa Tartousi. When it got back into the country, the Romanian authorities impounded the ship, which is the present situation of the ship as well. The Constanta Appeal Court is to judge the impounding of Iman-T today. Mediafax says the ship owner and the ship agent have announced their intention of suing the Romanian state in order to recover the prejudice caused by the ship’s impounding. According to their lawyer, Ionel Hasoti, the prosecutor that investigates the Omar case impounded the ship but didn’t name any custodian for it. "We didn’t want to make a scandal out of this and we didn’t want to put Prosecutor Ciprian Nastasiu under pressure until now. We gave him time to think and to read. However, one month has passed, and he didn’t show any signs of understanding the consequences of impounding a ship of that size, which was loaded with goods.", Hasoti said.

Translated by Sorin Balan