FORMER PRIME-MINISTER ACCUSES LUCIAN ISAR OF HAVING DEMANDED A KICKBACK FROM AN AMERICAN INVESTOR Either Ponta is lying, or the NBR was not aware of what Ponta knew

Former prime-minister Victor Ponta reacted out of the blue yesterday, when he saw that the former delegate minister for the business sector Lucian Isar is being heard at the National Anti-corruption Department, and accused Isar of having asked for kickbacks from a major American investor, during his term as minister.

Victor Ponta wrote on Facebook: "I obviously do not know the reasons why he (ed. note: Lucian Isar) has been called to the DNA today. I can however tell you that in almost four years as a prime-minister there has only been one time when I received direct information from the specialized institutions of the state about a clear attempted act of corruption by a minister - Lucian Isar (who asked for kickbacks from an American investor in exchange for his support for the implementation of an important project in Romania)!

Back then I also told Crin Antonescu about the situation and he understood - in a few hours I replaced Isar with Mihai Voicu. The people who informed me have notified the DNA as well. Unfortunately, such people exist''.

In the summer of 2014, the former delegate minister for the Business Sector, Lucian Isar, was appointed as the president of the Supervisory Board of the Romanian Railroad Bank (Banca Feroviara Română), a position which required the approval of the National Bank of Romania. It is well known how careful the National Bank of Romania is when it comes to reputation risk, so the question arises whether the NBR got the same information from the specialized institutions that Ponta got (as would have been normal).

If the NBR did not get the same information, then another question arises: are our intelligence services into arbitraging major public positions?!

Of course, these questions become superfluous if Ponta is lying, which would be nothing new for him. But it is not out of the question that this time he is telling the truth.

The shareholders of the Romanian Railroad Bank have decided, in December, to move to the one tier management system and at the time let Lucian Isar go.

The former minister vehemently denied Ponta's accusations, stating he was going to sue. Lucian Isar made the following statement, according to Mediafax: "I have publicly spoken about several cases that were touchy for him (ed. note: for Victor Ponta), OMV, Roşia Montană, Rompetrol and others. He probably feels excluded from the public debate, and my presence at the DNA, as a witness, in a complaint that I have filed, gave him the opportunity to sling some more dirt in the media. Or he reacted proactively, as a panic response. I don't know the reasons behind his lying and I am not interested in them. I want to inform the young slanderer that he will have to appear in court, because I am going to sue him. He already has experience with that. One trip more to the courts won't make much of a difference".

Sources from within the DNA told "BURSA" that Lucian Isar has been heard as a witness.

After the prime-minister's statement, former PNL president Crin Antonescu, as well as Alina Gorghiu, co-president of the PNL, currently the wife of Lucian Isar, came to his defense.

Crin Antonescu said that the former minister was replaced for political reasons, but admitted that Ponta "did make that kind of accusations", which Antonescu did not take seriously, according to ProTv. Alina Gorghiu said: "I am going to be brief and tell you that Mr. Ponta's reaction is a visceral one. It is an uncontrolled one, of fear. It happened after he heard that Mr. Isar went to the DNA to uphold a criminal complaint. I am actually completely uninterested in the fears of Mr. Ponta, the legal system will deal with them, not us. But denunciations aren't made publicly, denunciations are made at the DNA. I wonder why Mr. Ponta didn't make such a denouncement if he had information available and I am going to give you the answer. The answer is that is an aberration that he is making public simply out of fear. But what I can assure you is that Mr. Isar will file a complaint in court over Mr. Ponta for that kind of statements. This is not the first one he has made. You know that Mr. Ponta makes all kinds of statements. He has made about a thousand about me, about a thousand about Mr. Blaga, none of them has come true. But that isn't stopping him from polluting the public space with all kinds of absurdities".

Lucian Isar resigned from the Ponta government in August 2012, after just a few months.

Isar is one of the treasurers who left the banking system following the attack on the leu, in 2008.