Air transport services of 8.5 million lei for the Presidency

The Presidential Administration organized a public procurement, a procedure following which four companies won a four-year framework agreement for air passenger transport services in the country and abroad, the maximum value of the contract being 8.5 million lei, according to the site- of G4Media.

The companies that won that tender are the Romanian National Air Transport Company-TAROM (for which the European Commission approved last week the granting of state aid of 100 million euros), Olimpic International Turism, Travel Time D&R SRL and Transilvania Holiday Travels SRL.

According to the Sibiu publication Turnul Sfatului, Transilvania Holiday Travels SRL is a company separated from the Sobis group, owned by the businessman Martin Muller, a close friend of the president Klaus Iohannis. The quoted source states that the Sobis group had 50% of the shares of the respective company until February 1, 2024, from which date the shares are divided between George Radu Lazăr and Diana Cristina Lazăr. In 2016, George Lazăr was the manager of Păstravăria Albota, owned by Martin Muller, and in the period 2018-2020 he was the manager of the Hermania restaurant, also owned by Martin Muller, and currently he also manages part of the businessman's investments, shows the cited source.

Moreover, George Lazăr declared for the Sibiu publication: "For us, this framework agreement is the same as another contract. It's absolutely nothing special. It's just that we are the only company in the country, the only one not from Bucharest, that is caught in this contract. It's my only pride, everything else goes on like any other client".

He noted that although the company has separated from the Sobis group, the links are still present.

Between Martin Muller, the founder of the Sobis group, and Klaus Iohannis, it is known that there is an older friendship. The quoted source recalls that the Hermania restaurant in the center of Sibiu, owned by businessman Martin Muller, was the host of the party after the presidential elections in 2014. A software engineer, with studies done in Germany, the boss of the Sobis company is the one who bought and modernized Păstrăvăria Albota is a former IAS appreciated by Nicu Ceauşescu.

Regarding the Olimpic International Tourism company, we show that it is a subscriber to public money, as demonstrated in 2021 by the former Minister of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Tourism, Claudiu Năsui, who criticized the way 100 million lei were allocated for a program of participation in international fairs in the respective year, program run by the National Export Council.

Claudiu Năsui pointed out: "Let me give you an example of the beneficiaries of the decisions of this Council. It is about a Mr. George Sorin Nicolescu, councilor of ANEIR (National Association of Exporters and Importers from Romania) who was also vice-president of ANEIR in 2010, participant of the Export Council in 2010, who owns the Olimpic International Turism company, one of the main companies winners of brokerage contracts for these fairs. So far, this company has received contracts worth over 50 million lei from the Romanian state, and this through the Ministry of Economy. The money was 100% of the taxpayers, we are not talking about European funds".

According to the procurement procedure carried out by the Presidential Administration, the framework contract of 8.5 million lei will be valid for four years, so even after President Iohannis ends his mandate in December 2024.

We remind you that the Presidential Administration has consistently refused to make public the data on the air travel of President Klaus Iohannis, on the grounds that this information is classified. President Iohannis has been constantly traveling abroad, in the last two years, by means of luxury planes. On some trips, the private plane used by the president made a stopover in Sibiu, where the president's wife lives, who accompanies him on official visits.