The criminal complaint was lodged with the Prosecutor General by the former deputy of AVAS, Jean-Catalin Sandu. He claims that the Ministry of Agriculture set itself itself as the injured party in a privatization case file, under the signature of Dacian Cioloş, although it did not have the right to do so.
The DNA prosecutors allegedly conducted and expertise at the Ministry, suggesting that the institution was damaged by 60.4 million euro and without requiring its own assessment, the ministry agreed to be involved in the case.
"The money was not collected by the Ministry of Agriculture anymore, but by the Ministry of Finance. Through the abolition of a special fund, the one that would have had the capacity of injured party, if there had been a loss registered in this case, the money was directed to the state budget," Razvan Savaliuc, luju.ro. Journalist said
The problem is that the Romanian Fund for Agricultural Development was abolished eight months before the start of privatization.
Three days after the Ministry of Agriculture was established as the injured party, the institution filed a supplement to the file whereby the Agency of State Domains argued that there was no damage. The error made by prosecutors could lead to the quashing of the case and send it back to DNA to conduct a new investigation on the matter.
Dacian Cioloş, who signed the Ministry of Agriculture’s involvement in the privatization file is now commissioner.
A similar process occurred also in Adrian Nastase’s case, when DNA prosecutors pressured the State Inspectorate for Constructions to establish itself in a civil party, and to obtain the conviction of former premier by the ICCJ in the " Quality Trophy" file.