As a result of the efforts of The Foundation for the Defense of the Citizen Against State Abuses (FACIAS), the Romanian state has saved more than 400 million euros.
In 2017, FACIAS referred the matter to the Prosecutor's Office of the High Court of Cassation and Justice regarding the possible commission of the offence of abuse of office by the representatives of the Ciolos government, through the adoption of Government Decision no. 906/2016 on the approval of the circumstances and specific procedures related to the "Multifunctional Corvette" strategic armament programme.
You can view the FACIAS complaint here:
Course of Events:
By Government Decision adopted on 22.12.2016, the procedures were established and approved for the Ministry of National Defence to conclude a contract with Damen Shipyards Group for the procurement of a programme aimed at equipping Romania with four multifunctional military vessels. The cost of the entire programme to be carried out amounted to EUR 1.6 billion.
FACIAS reported that the Government at the time initiated the procurement by direct award to the Dutch company, in violation of Law no. 98/2016 - which regulates public procurement and without obtaining the procurement approval from the Romanian Parliament.
Ciolos Government representatives adopted this decision without taking into account the law on the award of public contracts in the field of defence and security.
Following the FACIAS referral, criminal file no. 133/P/2017 was formed, which concerned the way in which the Government Decision directly awarding a contract worth €1.6 billion to Damen Schelde Naval Shibuiding was issued.
The unlawful nature of Government Decision No 906/2016 was the basis for the decision to repeal that act. And two years later, after the Government Decision was annulled, an international tender was organised for the construction and delivery of corvettes for the Romanian Army. The contract was won by the French Naval Group for €1.2 billion. In addition, the modernisation of the two Romanian frigates, valued at around €200 million, was included in this amount.
On 06.08.2019 in the criminal case filed by FACIAS, the case was closed because the facts referred to are not provided for by the criminal law, and the controversial decisions taken by the Government should entail liability by political means.
The closure order can be viewed here:
Although the winner of the tender has been named since 2019, and for almost a year now there have been no more challenges or court stops to the signing of contracts, we consider it particularly important to clarify a number of issues that could remove suspicions about the reasons for delaying the signing of the contract with the French Naval Group.
In this regard, FACIAS has asked the Ministry of National Defence what are the concrete arguments for postponing the signing of the contract with Naval Group.
In the reply received from the Ministry of National Defence, we were informed that the signing of the framework contract for the supply of the Corvettes has not taken place because the parties have not yet agreed on the final content of the contract.
The MApN response can be viewed here:
FACIAS believes that such an investigation and implicitly holding those responsible accountable are absolutely mandatory steps on the part of the responsible institutions. FACIAS is a non-governmental, non-profit and apolitical organisation, strategic partner of the Council of Europe and the European Commission through the European Association for Local Democracy (ALDA), which emerged in 2008 and specialises in human rights advocacy. Our main concern and work is to defend citizens against state abuses and we act as a member of CIVICUS (World Alliance for Citizen Participation) and FRA (European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights).