Tariceanu, on DNA investigation: Case built on political grounds; I did not get any money

Calin Popescu-Tariceanu rejects National Anti-Corruption Directorate's (DNA) accusations that he took a bribe when he served as prime minister, explaining that no payments were made to Microsoft while he led the Government and, consequently, did not receive "any money". "I have 30 years of experience, which makes me believe that nothing is accidental. I didn't get any money and there was no reason to get it. The Microsoft case is related to the licenses that the Romanian state had to pay to Microsoft. During my term, although four government decisions were made and one of these was targeted by the then prosecutor general, Ms. Kovesi, all they did was to make an inventory of Microsoft licenses and no money was paid to Microsoft during my term of office. So I did not get ant money. The connection is made with the consultants that PNL [National Liberal Party] had for a period of time, who had a contract that was honored in full and there were no other obligations. The consultants sued PNL for recovering the full amount of the contract. Neither I nor PNL received these amounts. This amount of 800,000 dollars is in the head of DNA that it allegedly was somehow transferred or used by PNL. In the case file, I do not appear as the beneficiary of any amount and neither does PNL, to be clear," Tariceanu stated on Monday, on Antena 3 private TV station. He explained that the case was opened a long time ago. "There were a series of accusations that were not at all obvious and clear. I was accused of taking bribes, but in the case of the Prosecutor's Office it is said that, in fact, the money did not reach me, that the money was taken by someone else whom I had nothing to do with... The kind of case built by DNA on political grounds, a case file that had 17,000 pages, sent to Parliament, in which, when we looked into it, we found nothing to accuse me, but only assumptions and legal aberrations that tried to put me in an unfavorable light," Tariceanu added. The National Anti-Corruption Directorate (DNA) has asked the Prosecutor General's Office to notify President Klaus Iohannis about initiating a criminal investigation of Calin Popescu Tariceanu into bribe taking when Tariceanu was a prime minister, according to a DNA press statement. According to DNA, the request takes into account that, at this moment, there are aspects supporting the reasonable suspicion that the person whose criminal investigation is requested would have received, indirectly, in 2007 - 2008, from the representatives of an Austrian company benefits worth 800,000 US dollars as payment for consulting services.AGERPRES(RO - author: Livia Popescu, editor: Florin Marin; EN - author: Bogdan Gabaroi, editor: Adina Panaitescu)