Viorel Hrebenciuc, according to the controversies created by his appearance at Expo Osaka: “I had no official quality in this travel”

Viorel Hrebenciuc states that he did not participate in any official action but only in a private event, according to a response offered Hotnews on his presence on Thursday by the “Romanian Day” at Expo Osaka 2025.

• After Hotnews wrote that Viorel Hrebenciuc, permanently sentenced to prison in a corruption file, represented Romania at Expo Osaka 2025, the Foreign Ministry issued a press release that he did not know about his presence and will re-evaluate all the partnerships with the Chamber of Commerce.
• According to images published on Facebook by Tomoyasu Kato, Romania's honorary consul in Osaka, Romania was represented by an event formed by Mihai Daraban (CCIR president), Victor Ponta, Viorel Hrebenciuc and Ovidiu Silaghi.

In the answer offered for Hotnews, Viorel Hrebenciuc specifies that he paid for his own movement and did not participate in official actions, but only in a private dinner with the honorary consul of Romania at Osaka.

“I did not have any official quality in this travel. Dinner with Mr. Kato, a very special man, had a private character. I did not participate in any official action under the aegis of EXPO 2025. Finally, I mention that I have incurred all the expenses of this trips, which is not the case for an official representative.”

CCIR position

In reply after the announcement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, CCIR transmitted that the partnership between the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIR) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) aimed and only aimed at organizing
Official events to promote the Romanian economic interests.

Based on this partnership, CCIR organized on June 26, together with the Romanian Pavilion (a MAE project),
The business forum on the occasion of Romania's Day at Expo 2025 Osaka, attended by the Romanian ambassador to Tokyo, Ovidiu Raețchi, the president of the Senate, Mircea Abrudean and a CCIR delegation of Mihai Daraban, Ovidiu Silaghi and Victor Ponta.

“The photographs published (no in which Viorel Hrebenciuc is present), posted by the Japanese partners, were from private dinner without any connection with the program and official events,” CCIR reports.

CCIR position on the ad made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

MAE reassesses partnerships

After the controversy created by the appearance of photos with Hrebenciuc, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs came out with a press release stating that the event in question was not part of the events organized by the Romanian Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka for marking the Romanian Day within the exhibition, but was private, was organized by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania (not).

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was not informed about this event, about the guests and participants in it and did not hire any expense for its organization,” the ministry says. “Practically, the automatic exclusion from partnerships with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for at least two years, of the institutions that, through the activities and reputation of Romania will be taken into account by associating with criminally convicted persons, respectively organizations associated with corruption acts, influence trafficking or incompatible activities,” the MAE standards are mentioned.