Romania Probes Corruption Claims Over Microsoft Licenses

Prosecutors from the National Anti-corruption Department, DNA, questioned two Romanian officials on Wednesday in a case involving the lease of Microsoft IT licenses for the country's schools.

Mihnea Costoiu, the Minister for Higher Education and Scientific Research, and Eugen Bejinariu, former chief of the government’s General Secretariat, were summoned by the DNA to make statements related to the case.

The officials said they made statements as witnesses, but refused to make any further comment following their questioning.

Prosecutors say there are suspicions of bribery and abuse of office in a contract worth 105 million US dollars, which was to supply Microsoft Office licenses to schools and other public institutions between 2004 and 2009.

“There are clues that the price for the licenses was increased by about 5.4 million euro,” a statement from the DNA said.

Microsoft's Romanian press office did not respond to Balkan Insight's request for a comment by the time of publication.

The investigation follows a complaint made in May by the government’s Control Unit, which notified prosecutors of alleged irregularities in the schools contract. The contract was approved by the former government.

Romania is still considered one of the most corrupt states in the European Union and has made only limited progress in fighting corruption and organised crime since it joined the EU in 2007.

But in recent years, the number of high-ranking officials sentenced for graft has increased significantly.