Transcripts of the case in which the Minister of Defense was offered a 1 million euro bribe to arrange the purchase of weapons. “You have no idea how much money is coming in! Billions of dollars from the European Commission! We're putting it in the bag, without a trace”
“Today you are a minister, tomorrow you may be nothing! And you may never get this position in your life! Do you understand? I am filling you with money!” – amazing discussions between a former PSD senator, promises and revelations about the level of bribes.
The former PSD senator Marius Isăilă was detained by the DNA. He contacted Octavian Berceanu, the former head of the Environmental Guard, in order to, through him, offer a 1 million euro personal bribe to the Minister of Defense Ionuț Moșteanu, plus black money for the electoral campaign and political support.
Isăilă wanted Romtehnica to make a contract with a company from Bulgaria.
Berceanu went to DNA. Prosecutors gave him a microphone and ambiently recorded the conversation.
The transcript was published by Gândul and Știri per sources.
Former senator Marius Isăilă already has two active convictions, one of which is for corruption. For the present case, he was detained by the DNA, and the judge approved the preventive arrest for 30 days.
The transcript of the discussion between Isăilă and Berceanu is one of the most astonishing documents I have come across in recent years.
“You tell him, well, you've got a million! We'll be generous. In the bag”
Former senator Marius Isăilă tells Octavian Berceanu that the money offered for such contracts is natural, something that is practiced:
“What p… my? Are you crazy? I bring you… I fill you with money! You didn't understand… in Albania, because they sold armaments, they became billionaires overnight! He made the ministers billionaires! Overnight!”.
“You tell him that in a contract, a year ago, (someone else) took two million in cash from a contract! He took two million, two million in hand! What the hell? In BULGARIA!”.
“He wants in the bag, we give in the bag! You say, well, you have a million! We will be generous. In the bag, so that we don't have any traces! No traces!”.
“Well, you don't realize how much money is coming in! It's 30 billion just for the RE-ARMY program! Three billion from the European Commission!”.
The former senator refers to ReArm Europe, the defense plan of the European Union.
He presents bribery as the ultimate goal of ministerial office
“If I were a minister or anyone, you know the first thing I would think about: my pocket! Well, you make money!”.
“Today you are a minister, tomorrow you might be nothing! And you might never hold this position again in your life! Do you understand? And then you have to understand, well, when you go home you ask yourself: well, what did I do to… aah, I scored”.
In addition, it can finance their election campaign, if they accept:
“And Mr. Minister is on the team with us! That he will not be a minister forever! We help him in the campaign.”
Bribery is not only normal in self-interest, it is also legal
“Well, you…you don't realize that I can do…I put money in your pocket? And no, be careful! Everything is legal, you don't do anything extra or minus!”.
“All kinds of generals came to me, all kinds of… peasants. You need a minister's order. You tell me as much as you need and in the evening… in 24 hours you have all the money that… that you tell me!”,
The politician says that there will be no opposition in the structure of the Army or Romtehnica, if that is what the minister says. That's it, it's fixed. Why? Because the others “are there put by the monkey!”, as he calls them. They are decorative.
“Don't meet this function again. You took the money”
The minister's interest in accepting the bribe is obvious, says Isăilă. And he explains to Berceanu, who was wearing a DNA microphone:
“At least, p… my… you took the money and that's the thing! You don't know how long you're waiting! You don't meet with this position anymore… And after that you don't know if you'll ever see it again or if you'll still be in politics in two, three years!”.
Isăilă also presents him with the option of “arranging” the arms deliveries, in order to hide the real supplier
“We install them, reassemble them, paint them, arrange them and the Romanian state sells them… through the company in Bulgaria, we sell them… to whom! The end-user is Ukraine, just so you know! Final!”.
Isăilă also conveys to the minister what to say to anyone who disputes the purchases ordered by him: “Why my p… (trivial word) did you not sign the contract under the conditions in which the Romanian state must earn money”.
“When the contract is signed and everything is legal, you have a million! It's insured for all old age.”
The pretext for such an arrangement is the difficult situation of Romania and the proximity of the war started by Russia, says Marius Isăilă: “The mother of the DNA can also come, considering the state of emergency and necessity”
And if the minister does not accept the spade? “You will go down in history as the village fool!”, the politician tells him.
Horse Thieves
Who are these people to have such insolence of arrangements on large sums? Who is Isăilă, who is the “Bulgarian” and what functions do their accomplices in Romania have. Some have already taken money, claims Isăilă. The way they act is reminiscent of a scene.
“Yellowstone” is a TV series that is immensely popular among conservative audiences in the US. Kevin Costner's character tries, in present-day Montana, to save his huge estate from real estate developers. “I'm the opposite of progress. I'm the wall it hits against,” he says.
Few recent films have captivated millions to this extent. Viewers look not only at the majestic horses and scenery, but also imagine a life with less speed and corporate greed.
In one of the episodes, some horse thieves from the US-Canada border are chased by two police forces.
“Why are thieves in such a hurry to get into a prison from you?”
From the US, Montana cattle rangers are galloping along. From Canada, the mounted police appear.
Desperate, the thieves try to get to Canada, because they don't want to risk falling into the hands of the local Montana rangers, who know no joke when it comes to theft.
The bandits are caught by the American rangers, right on the bank of the river that marks the border between the countries. Clad in clean, ironed white shirts, Canadian police officers claim their jurisdiction: “Let us take them. This is a law-based country.”
To which the Montana rancher's police chief, who had already tied up the thugs, says, “Yeah? Then why are the thugs in such a hurry to get to your jail?” The rangers leave, taking the bagmen with them, across the river. You don't predict too good a fate for criminals.
That's what you think of when you read the incredible transcript of the arms contracts. The stakes are indeed billions of euros. Because Europe decided to defend itself.
Sociopaths of corruption
“Well, you don't realize how much money is coming in! There are 30 billion just for the RE-ARMY program! Three billion from the European Commission! I'm filling you with money!”, says former senator Isăilă.
If today's Romania is a country based on the law and that really wants to defend itself, then why do people who talk like sociopaths of corruption, like Marius Isăilă, get involved in combinations again, without fear that they can end up in prison again?
What is society doing wrong and how is justice insufficiently applied? First they stole the horses, then the medicine, then the highways, and now they're also robbing the tanks. “We paint and arrange them,” says Isăilă. Imagine how good this “arranged” weaponry will be.
Thieves do not normally seek refuge in a rule of law. And some of them, who have lost any trace of desire to cohabit on a legal basis with their peers, don't even deserve it. They would be better off across the river.
