Cristian Mihai Buciu, a former operational director within the Romanian Post, and businessmen Nelu Iordache and Gheorghe Racaru were sent to court by the anticorruption prosecutors on charges of improper participation in abuse of office.

Nelu Iordache was the owner of Romanian low cost airline Blue Air airline while Gheorghe Racaru was the general manager of the same company when the incriminated actions took place. The two businessmen, together with Cristian Buciu, are accused of causing a damage of some EUR 3.4 million to the Romanian Post.

On September 8, 2008, Buciu, with the support of the two businessmen, determined the Romanian Post representatives to conclude a contract that damaged the national company by EUR 3.39 million, according to a statement from the National Anticorruption Department (DNA).

"In fact, ANRC (which later became ANCOM) imposed the Romanian Post National Company relative internal standards for the distribution of priority postal items, determined by European regulations. The only solution identified by the Romanian Post for meeting the maximum intervals of distribution was setting up an air platform dedicated to mail transport," reads the DNA statement.

The Romanian Post’s Board approved the business plan for setting up this air platform, although it failed to make an estimation of income and cost resulting from this plan. Cristian Mihai Buciu, the former director of the Operational Department, was appointed in charge of taking the necessary steps to implement the business plan.

The Post launched a public procurement procedure to purchase an air transport service. The contract’s value was estimated at EUR 45 million.

According to DNA, the contract’s requirements restricted access to the public procurement procedure, "given that no airline (in a market that was quite small), didn’t have sufficient aircraft." Thus, the airline managed by Nelu Iordache and Gheorghe Racaru was the only one that was able to make an offer. According to the prosecutors, Iordache and Buciu were close friends.

Moreover, "to meet the qualifying conditions, the air transport company’s representatives submitted a false letter of guarantee," reads the DNA statement.

Although the airline’s financial offer included six direct flights with six aircraft, in the actual contract it was established that the airline would conduct only four flights with four aircraft, for the same money. Moreover, only two of the flights were direct, the other two including stopovers. These two flights with stopovers were to be charged as if they were four flights with four aircraft.

“These issues were agreed by Cristian Mihai Buciu, Nelu Iordache, and Gheorghe Racaru, at the expense of the Romanian Post.”

The trial is to take place at the Bucharest Court.

In April 2013, Nelu Iorache was sent to court for embezzlement, money laundering, and deceit. The prosecutors accused him misusing some EUR 7 million worth of EU funds, which his construction company Romstrade got as a downpaymet for a highway segment, to pay some debts of his other companies, including the airline Blue Air. After Iordache's arrest, his companies went into insolvency and Blue Air was bought by a group of Romanian and Belgian investors.

Iordache is also being prosecuted in another corruption case related to the revamping of Romania's high altitude road Transalpina.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com