History of the contract for the execution of the JT Oil petroleum products terminal

In the summer of 2023, the undersigned Irinel Lazăr, as a representative of E-Dynamic Structures SRL, was contacted by Mircea Georgescu, with whom I am friends, to have a meeting with Jean Tucan from JT Oil Terminal, in order to discuss the execution of some oil tanks in the port of Constanta.

At the meeting with Jean Tucan that took place in the town of Năvodari, at the JT Marina Private Club, I was asked for a price offer for the execution of 8 oil tanks. When I requested technical details, Jean Tucan informed me that for these I would be contacted by the designer of the work, named Vlăsceanu. After the discussion with the designer (Mr. Vlăsceanu), I received from him the technical documentation for the execution of the 8 oil tanks and I made, together with Mr. Engineer Constantin Schiller, a price offer. The offer included the execution price of the tanks with the customer's material and piping installations with supports, plus fire installations.

I had another meeting with Jean Tucan and Bogdan Aldea (Vice President of the Board of Directors of JT Oil) in the Sofra restaurant. Mircea Georgescu was also present at this meeting. The proposed offer was worth 3,800,000 euros, made up as follows:

- 3,200,000 euros for the execution of oil tanks with the customer's material;

- 600,000 euros for the execution of piping and fire installations.

From the very beginning of the discussion, Jean Tucan refused the piping offer on the grounds that the price was too high and that he already had an offer with a lower price. After the discussion about the offer for the execution of the oil tanks, Jean Tucan threw the papers containing the price offer at me, saying that it was not an offer, that we did not know how to make an offer, that it was too big and that he had a company of some people in Turkey that would do the work for him cheaper.

Towards the end of 2023 I was contacted again by Jean Tucan who asked me if I would give him another offer, why I was upset and if I still wanted to do the work.

After negotiations between the undersigned Irinel Lazăr, administrator of E-Dynamic Structures SRL and Jean Tucan, representative of JT Oil, we agreed on the amount of 3 million euros only for the execution of the tanks.

After Jean Tucan accepted the offer, he put me in touch with Mr. Manuel Găliceanu, representative of Partener Construct General (I later found out that Mr. Găliceanu did not have this capacity), specifying that his company had won the tender and that I would have to work as a subcontractor of this company. On November 9, 2023, I had a meeting with Mr. Manuel Găliceanu at my office in Constanţa. The contract that Partener Construct General made available to me for signing was suspicious and had some abusive clauses, with the clear intention of defrauding us. At that time, precisely because of the abusive clauses, I refused to sign the contract with Partener Construct General.

Another meeting followed, attended by Jean Tucan, Manuel Găliceanu, Aldea Bogdan, engineer Schiller Constantin and the undersigned. Following the discussions, we agreed on the schedule for the execution of the works and the payment terms, namely payment upon completion of each tank. Jean Tucan stated that he had money and that immediately after installing the tank cover (so that the bank representative could see that the tank was lifted and payment could be requested) he would pay the equivalent value of the tank within a maximum of 5 days.

This happened for the first two tanks, after which, for the third, he made the payment in installments, and for the last tank invoiced, he paid only partially.

During a meeting regarding the progress of the works that took place in September in the terminal building within the Port of Constanta, attended by 20 people including Jean Tucan, representatives of Klaus Industrial, representatives of Partener Construct General, designers and the undersigned, Jean Tucan asked me how I was doing with the execution of the works, which caught the attention of a certain Ms. Cristina from Klaus Industrial. The lady in question asked who I was, to which Jean Tucan replied that I was from Partener Construct General and not from E-Dynamic Structures.

During the meeting, I asked to be given the phase program with the signature of the ISC (note: the State Inspectorate in Construction). The lady from Klaus, very annoyed by the request, replied that it was none of my business to ask for this, because the site manager has "batches" at ISC.

In fact, the lack of this phase program makes it impossible for us to complete the technical book of the work.

Also during that meeting, Jean Tucan asked the lady from Klaus Industrial not to make any more payments until all the tanks that had been started were completed. When I started to explain to her that they could not be completed because I had not been provided with the necessary materials and the execution drawing, Jean Tucan got angry, stating that he was not interested and that he would not pay anything anymore.

At the meeting on September 18, 2024 where all the works performed by E-Dynamic Structures were received, we learned that Partener Construct General signed the contract for the execution of tanks for the amount of 21 million lei, while our contract was for 15 million lei, resulting in a difference of six million lei for exactly the same works, an amount siphoned off by Jean Tucan and Manuel Găliceanu.

Jean Tucan from JT Oil had no right to negotiate this contract with me, Lazar Irinel, the representative of E-Dynamic Structures, because:

1. JT Oil is the beneficiary of the work and had already awarded the contract for the construction of the terminal to Klaus Industrial, as contractor, since August 2023;

2. Klaus Industrial had already subcontracted the contract for the execution of oil tanks to Partener Construct General, since August 03, 2023;

3. Jean Tucan had no capacity within Partener Construct General, thus having no right to negotiate or decide. However, he imposed the subcontracting to E-Dynamic Structures, with whom he directly negotiated the price and conditions of the contract for the execution of tanks, considering that the director of Partner Construct General is Manuel Găliceanu (a friend of Jean Tucan).

Given the control that Jean Tucan has over the companies Klaus Industrial and Partener Construct General, demonstrated by the fact that he negotiated this contract on their behalf, the intention to defraud is implied from the moment of negotiation. It should be noted that E-Dynamic Structures only learned of the existence of the other companies, Klaus Industrial and Partener Construct General, upon receipt of the contract. At the time of negotiations, Jean Tucan implied that this contract would be directly with JT Oil, not through intermediaries.

Although JT Oil claims that it has no commercial relationship with E-Dynamic Structures SRL, as a beneficiary it is directly responsible for the relationship with third parties in accordance with the provisions of Art. 1.856 Civil Code, according to which: "To the extent that they have not been paid by the contractor, the persons who, based on a contract concluded with him, have carried out an activity for the provision of services or the execution of the contracted work have direct action against the beneficiary, up to the amount that the latter owes the contractor at the time of filing the action".

Also, due to the fact that the outstanding amounts have not been paid, E-Dynamic Structures SRL exercised its right of retention over the materials in its possession, in accordance with Art. 2.495 Civil Code, according to which: "The person who is obliged to remit or return an asset may retain it as long as the creditor does not execute his obligation arising from the same legal relationship or, as the case may be, as long as the creditor does not compensate him for the necessary and useful expenses he made for that asset or for the damages that the asset caused him".

Although he was notified countless times about what was happening, Jean Tucan from JT Oil, as the beneficiary, took no action, did not ensure that the amounts he claims were paid by JT Oil to the contractor (Klaus Industrial) for the execution of the oil tanks were paid further to the contractor (Partener Construct General) and subsequently to the executor of the work (E- Dynamic Structures) although he should have been directly interested in the smooth running of the works, considering that JT Oil is the rightful owner of the executed tanks. Moreover, he vehemently claimed in all discussions that he would not make any payment, using very vulgar language.

Recently, Jean Tucan stated that he does not know who Irinel Lazăr is and implicitly E-Dynamic Structures SRL and that he does not know Mr. Manuel Găliceanu (with whom he is actually friends). However, I, Irinel Lazăr, have conversations on Whatsapp with Jean Tucan, related to the execution of the tanks and payments.

From unofficial sources, I learned that Jean Tucan claims that he kicked us out of the contract because we carried out non-compliant work, although no notification was received in this regard during the entire contractual period. Moreover, there were countless presences of Jean Tucan on the construction site during the execution of the work, where he was accompanied by various investors to whom he boasted about the quality of the work and the fact that everything was on schedule.

Although JT Oil, through Jean Tucan, claims that the project is not financed from non-reimbursable European funds, please follow the attached link where, on the POIM page in line 13, you can find the details of the financing contract: https://mfe.gov.ro/wp-content/uploads/2023/harta3006/Constanta%2030.06.2023.xlsx.