Conman arrested red-handed in Bucharest: posed as DNA prosecutor and demanded €25,000
Aurel Victor Șirgher, a recidivist in bribery offences, was detained red-handed after receiving €10,000 from a mayor in Buzău County. He posed as a DNA prosecutor, SIE officer or general.
"The DNA prosecutor" with solar-powered microphones and €25,000 demanded from a mayor
A recidivist previously convicted of bribery offences was arrested red-handed on 21 August while receiving €10,000 from a commune mayor in Buzău County. Gândul revealed exclusively the details of the operation, showing how Aurel Victor Șirgher posed as a DNA prosecutor, SIE officer or general to intimidate his victims.
The sum represented merely a first instalment of the total bribe of €25,000 that Șirgher had demanded from the official. What the conman did not know was that the mayor was already collaborating with investigators from the National Anti-Corruption Directorate at the moment he received the money.
The scenario of fear: solar-powered microphones and 96 hours of battery life
Șirgher's method was based on inducing terror. He convinced his interlocutors that their homes, offices and cars were already under surveillance by the DNA, after which he offered — for a fee — to "cleanse" those spaces.
In an intercepted conversation with a businessman from his circle, Șirgher described in great detail the new listening devices he attributed to the Directorate's investigators: microphones shaped like telephone cards, with photovoltaic cells on one side and recording modules on the other, capable of functioning 96 hours without external power.
"They've just come out like telephone cards," Șirgher explained to the businessman. "And they've got solar cells on half of them, you understand? And on the other half they've got microphones, they've got all sorts, they've got everything. They charge from the sun, you don't need to plug them in anywhere. They run for 96 hours without charging."
The businessman, for his part, recounted that a frequency detector he had previously purchased — paid for with four million old lei — emitted a sharp sound even in the presence of a switched-on television. Șirgher promptly explained to him that modern televisions contain integrated microphones, and the solar-powered device could draw current even from these.
Fictitious inspections in offices and dismantled sockets
DNA investigators described in the case file submitted to the Bucharest Court, where they requested Șirgher's preventive arrest, the systematic manner in which he operated. According to the indictment, Șirgher "had developed a method qualified as the commission of the bribery offence".
"He promises people that he will resolve their criminal problems, in exchange for large sums of money. Moreover, he has undertaken various acts to put people in a state of fear and to convince them to pay," the investigators recorded in the documents presented to the judge for rights and freedoms.
The investigators further showed that Șirgher induced in his victims the idea that their telephones were being tapped and that microphones were installed in offices or cars. He subsequently travelled to the location, carried out activities involving the dismantling of sockets and presented to his victims pieces of plastic which he described as interception devices installed by the DNA.
One of the businesswomen who availed herself of his services — through the intermediary of the same businessman — recounted to the investigators how such an "inspection" unfolded in her office at a Peco service station. According to her statement, Șirgher arrived with an apparatus which he claimed to have obtained from colleagues, with the stated purpose of detecting and extracting hidden microphones. He evacuated her and a colleague from the office before beginning the procedure.
The network of victims: the mayor and businessmen from Buzău
The mayor of Cernătești commune in Buzău County featured as the principal victim in the case file. Șirgher kept him in constant tension through recurrent threats that "the DNA is going to come and arrest you", creating the impression that only his interventions could prevent a criminal investigation or arrest.
In addition to the mayor, a businessman was involved in the conman's scheme, serving as an intermediary, without knowing that he too was being manipulated by Șirgher. Discussions between the two, captured by investigators, show that the influence trafficker was also negotiating the security of vehicles belonging to persons from the businessman's circle, an activity for which he was to collect additional sums.
The sum of €10,000 received red-handed represented part of the €25,000 agreement for "resolving" the mayor's criminal situation. The complaints filed in the case have confirmed, according to the investigators, that Șirgher did not act occasionally, but applied a repeated and refined pattern of extortion through impersonation of officials with decision-making power in criminal cases.
The case is pending before the Bucharest Court, where the court has analysed the DNA's request for preventive arrest against Aurel Victor Șirgher.
Source: Gândul