Former Minister of Energy in the Ponta government gives justice to Anastasiu regarding the resistance to reforms: “I also felt this”

Former Minister of Energy in the Ponta Government, Răzvan Nicolescu, says that Dragoș Anastasiu “made a gesture of normality” by resigning as a deputy prime minister and “it would be good for everyone to do it.” Instead, the former minister draws attention to the resistance in the system to the reforms in the state companies.

“It is very worrying, however, the hatred of all those who enter politics from outside, as well as the huge resistance to reforming state companies. I also felt this,” Nicolescu wrote on a Facebook post.

“Below you can find a quote from the balance sheet that I publicly presented in 2014 at the end of the minister's term:

«The simultaneous start of several strategic reforms in the energy field tends to coagulate a front of the different interest groups that oppose change, a strong force, especially when it is united and which can affect the normal development of the whole system. Tactically, a reform prioritization is needed and a gradual approach for their implementation to be successful. There is a need for a deep reform of the central public administration in Romania to be based on the introduction of a decent financial system, but also on transparency, professionalism and integrity-principles that guided my activity as long as I led the Department for Energy »”, the former minister's posting shows.

The statement comes after Dragoș Anastasiu resigned from the position of Deputy Prime Minister, following the disclosures regarding the involvement of his companies in a corruption file. Anastasiu acknowledged that his companies have bribe an ANAF inspector for eight years.

Anastasiu: “The attacks on my address, because I disturbed the sine”

In a press conference held on Sunday, Anastasiu said that the resignation comes at a time when “all the reflectors” have been put on it and that the attacks of the last days are related to the reform of the state companies.

“In this context, my involvement appeared in the public space in an older file, which was public and five months ago, and two years ago, and when I was called to be a counselor in Cotroceni, and during the period when I remained voluntarily to ensure the transition with the new councilors of President Nicușor Dan. This file was in the public space.

There are still many sinecles, it is a place that if you disturb it is as if you put the stick in a wasp. We were expecting it to be a very high resistance, not to be a lot of applause. This is the moment when all the reflectors have been put on me: it is not something to have been waiting for us. When you disturb the world reacts.

It is also the reason why they left a series of attacks. I remember the reactions to a group of experts who had not even been formed, it was in the first discussion of being formed, competent people from private, who have another vision, “said Anastasiu Sunday.

Dragoș Anastasiu resigned from the position of Deputy Prime Minister

The resignation of Deputy Prime Minister Dragoș Anastasiu comes after the disclosures that for 8 years, during 2009-2017, his companies bribed an ANAF inspector in order not to have problems. Anastasiu acknowledged the bribe of ANAF employee both in front of DNA and judges.

The information regarding the involvement of the company of Deputy Prime Minister Dragoș Anastasiu in the corruption file have been reported by the reality and can be found in the decisions of the Bucharest Court and Court of Appeal, consulted by HotNews.

Heard in the criminal prosecution phase, as well as in the two stages of the trial in the court, Dragoș Anastasiu acknowledged the corruption facts that have spread over 8 years.

He explained that he chose to accept the proposal of the inspector who had come to control his companies, although he perceived that it was a “blackmail”, as he said in court. Anastasiu considered that if he did not offer the bribe to the official ANAF, his company risks being closed, and the employees “will stay on the road”. The current deputy prime minister also told the hearings that the official had threatened a director of the company that “he will put his employer in prison”.

In a response sent on Friday for G4media, and then in a press release publicly transmitted on Saturday, DNA said that Anastasiu and his business partner had the capacity of “witness-venture”

The representatives of the Government of Romania reported on Friday that the “circumstances of the case” in which Deputy Prime Minister Dragoș Anastasiu acknowledged in court that his company gave a bribe to an ANAF inspector “have nothing to do with the quality of deputy prime minister and to the duties of Mr. Dragoș Anastasiu”.