Director of Cugir Mechanical Works Charged with Accepting €10,000 Bribe
The National Anti-Corruption Directorate has charged the director of Cugir Mechanical Works, Augustin Mircea Trifan, with accepting a bribe. The investigation is expanding to multiple plants in the ROMARM network.
Investigation into Defence Industry Corruption Expands: UM Cugir Director Charged with Bribery
The National Anti-Corruption Directorate has opened new criminal files targeting acts of corruption in Romanian mechanical plants overseen by ROMARM, according to judicial sources cited by Gândul. The director of Cugir Mechanical Works, Augustin Mircea Trifan, is reported to have already been charged with accepting a bribe.
On Tuesday afternoon, Trifan left the DNA headquarters after entering the building at 8 a.m., without making any statement regarding his legal situation. His lawyer likewise refused to comment on the charges that investigators reportedly brought against his client.
How the Cugir Case Emerged
Gândul sources explain that, following the opening of a case concerning bribes offered to directors of the Bucharest and Plopeni mechanical plants — where the protagonists reportedly included directors Pîrvu, Rafiu and Sorescu, along with businessman Marian Voinea — the DNA has separated new files and launched investigations into other mechanical plants where there are indications of corrupt activities.
The cited sources cannot specify with precision how many new files have been opened and how many plants are under investigation by authorities, but they confirm that at the time of publication, the director of UM Cugir has the status of defendant for accepting a bribe.
According to the same sources, in the case of Augustin Mircea Trifan, the matter involves, "generically", the same type of offences as in the case of his counterparts at the plants in Bucharest and Plopeni. The director reportedly received €10,000 to accelerate payment of sums owed under one or more contracts conducted between the plant and a commercial company.
Gândul sources cannot specify whether this concerns companies owned by businessman Marian Voinea, already charged in the Bucharest UM – Plopeni UM case, whether the sum was given by him, or whether Voinea has begun providing investigators with details of bribes circulating in the defence industry following the start of the initial investigation.
Computer Searches and Interrogations
The DNA summoned Augustin Trifan to its headquarters on Tuesday, where a computer search of his telephone and other electronic devices reportedly took place. Previously, during the past week, the same type of computer search had been carried out in the case of Plopeni Mechanical Works director Alexandru Tiberiu Pîrvu.
Pîrvu was the first to be summoned for interrogation in the major corruption case involving the directors of Bucharest UM and Plopeni UM. Both upon arrival and upon departure, he refused to speak with the press. The only question to which he responded was whether he had managed to have his son operated on, answering briefly that "not yet". He also declined to answer a question about whether he had requested recovery of the €500,000 seized by investigators following a search of his residence.
Exclusive Details from the Bucharest and Plopeni Plant Case
DNA investigators monitored the communications of the case's protagonists for a sufficient period to capture all details of the relationship between the "in-house" businessman Marian Voinea and general directors Rafiu and Pîrvu. A revealing detail: the head of Plopeni UM nicknamed Voinea "the General".
Gândul reveals that, in one of the conversations captured through environmental and telephone surveillance, the businessman appears dissatisfied at a meeting with director Pîrvu, the reason being that he had not collected the expected sums from contracts with Plopeni UM and that he "has a problem" with the director. Specifically, the sum that was to be covertly returned from the contract value was a small amount, moreover derived from a payment made by Bucharest Mechanical Works.
At the residence of director Pîrvu, investigators found €500,000. In conversations between the protagonists, the sum was referred to as the director's "savings", and the DNA intercepted plans regarding his future acquisition of a hotel on the seashore.
Detentions and House Arrest
DNA investigators raided Bucharest and Plopeni Mechanical Works during the past week, detaining and seeking preventative arrest for the directors of the two institutions. Prosecutors are investigating numerous acts of corruption allegedly committed by the leaders of the military equipment plants, including in the context of the intensification of the war at Romania's borders.
On 24 July, Bucharest Court decided to place under house arrest the general directors of the two plants, the commercial director of Plopeni UM, and Marian Voinea, administrator of the company considered "in-house" to the plants, who reportedly secured the loyalty of officials with a share of sums collected through official contracts.
Both the DNA prosecutors and the four individuals contested the preventative measure. Bucharest Court of Appeal scheduled the hearing of the appeals for 11 August.
Source: Gândul