The Telepathy case file could open a Pandora's box for other strategic privatizations. It's about Dacia Pitesti, Marmosin, Automobile Craiova, BCR or Alro Slatina. Case files could be opened in the privatization of other 4,000 Romanian companies by the same valuation method used for the Institute for Food Research. Antena 3 sent to the DNA requests inquiring on the state of investigations, but so far prosecutors have not replied.
According to experts consulted by DCNews, the privatization procedure applied for the Institute of Food Research was identical to the procedure used in Romania throughout the period 1998-2008 in the sense in which it is subject to the same laws. It is the Government Decision no. 500/1994, which is in effect today and whereby all state institutions involved in the privatization process established the starting price of stocks to be sold.
The decision established an administrative assessment method of the company’s property starting with its accounts. Depending on this value, the starting price of the stake is established. The law does not provide for a minimum selling price of the stakes.
From 2008 until now, the decision of the Government has been amended several times and came to be applied only over a state capital company’s building , the land of which were subject to another mode of evaluation.
Therefore, the DCNews journalists argue that, according to the judicial reasoning given by the Court of Appeal, all privatizations made by the state institutions between 1998 and 2008 can be considered fraudulent. We're talking about the most important companies in Romania from Dacia, BCR, Romtelecom, BRD, RRC, Automobile Craiova, Galati SIDEX up to Petrom and the Agricultural Bank.
We should also mention that between 2002-2007, the Authority for State Assets Recovery privatized a number of 260 companies by the same procedure applied to the Food Research Institute.
Moreover, while the public institution directly involved in this case, the State Domains Administration, informed the DNA of 40 companies privatized by a procedure identic to ICA in this list only the sale of the Institute for Food Research has been declared illegal.
This is how the worst political case file of the last 25 years occurred and the judges ruled 67 years in prison without suspension for 12 people and ordered unprecedented economic measures.