The scandal over the state's IT platform continues. Minister Darău, accusations against the general secretary of the Digitization Authority
The Acting Minister of Digitization, Irineu Darău, announced that the Secretary General of the Authority for the Digitization of Romania (ADR) contested on Thursday the decision by which the tender for the National Interoperability Platform (PNI) was cancelled.
The new president of ADR, Cătălin Giulescu, decided last week to cancel the tender for PNI, an IT platform that should connect state databases, claiming that the launch of the procedure, in February, “was done prematurely, without meeting the legal conditions”. In addition, on Wednesday, he filed a criminal complaint against his predecessor, Vlad Dragos, whom he accuses of abuse of office.
A day ago, Dragoș Vlad had in turn filed a criminal complaint, against interim deputy prime minister Oana Gheorghiu and minister Darău, whom he accuses of repeated pressures for violating the law on public procurement.
The Minister of Digitization, about the general secretary of ADR
Minister Darău said on Thursday evening that the general secretary of ADR, Dragoș Cosmin Niculescu, contested the decision by which the tender was cancelled.
“The problem is that the same general secretary was also the project manager for the PNI and one of those who approved the specification on the basis of which the procedure was launched. In other words, the man who built and approved the project is now contesting the decision by which the project was stopped,” said Irineu Darău, in a post on Facebook.
He claims that the procurement procedure, for over 160 million lei, had been “launched without all the mandatory approvals” and “raises serious problems regarding the way the project was built”.
“The general secretary of ADR, Dragoș Cosmin Niculescu, who also has a key role in organizing the procedures for the Governmental Cloud, was employed between 2012 and 2014 at two companies controlled, through intermediaries, by Sebastian Ghiță”, added Irineu Darău, citing a G4Media article from April 2025.
The official also claims that “the brother of one of these parties submitted an offer to ADR in 2025, through a company established in December 2024, for a 743 million lei contract regarding the implementation of the Government Cloud”.
“This is what we are trying to change today in the digitization of Romania”
Minister Darău said that there must be no more “non-transparent projects” and “groups that protect each other”, but there must be “respect and responsibility for public money”.
“Digitalization must be done correctly, transparently and in the interest of the Romanian state, not to maintain old networks connected to money and influence. We continue the cleanup and go to the end. Neither intimidation, nor slander, nor attempts at kompromat will stop us. The goal is clear and in the interest of every citizen: real digital transformation, with an effect in everyday life!”, concluded the interim Minister of Digitalization, Irineu Darău.
