Parliamentary Hearings In Udrea Wiretapping Scandal

SPP, STS Directors Say Don"t Have Technology To Eavesdrop On MPs

Neither the Guard and Protection Service (SPP) nor the Special Telecommunications Service (STS) have the technology, the logistics and the legal authority to record conversations of the dignitaries, according to the directors of the two services, who were heard by the Defence Committee of the Chamber of Deputies yesterday.

The Defence Committee took note of the publication in the mass media of unauthorized recordings of the discussions held within the parliamentary committee investigating the Udrea Case. The discussions in question concerned the committee"s plan for the indictment of Tourism Minister Elena Udrea.

The SPP does not have any legal prerogative to perform such recordings and does not have the required technology for wiretapping. They even invited us to inspect the equipment they have, " said Costica Canacheu, Chairman of the Defence Committee of the Chamber of Deputies.

Responding to the remarks of Social Democrat Party (PSD) representative Viorel Hrebenciuc, according to whom the secret services in Romania are doing "political police" work, SPP Director Lucian Pahontu said those were politically-driven accusations which he did not intend to pursue.

"According to the operational regulations, the SPP cannot do anything outside the boundaries of terrorist control," Pahontu added. The chairman of the Committee also believed that Hrebenciuc"s remarks were the result of "electoral pressure" which made politicians "go beyond the limits of reason." In his opinion, should Viorel Hrebenciuc reiterate his accusations, he would have to answer before the law.

STS Director Marcel Oprisan told the committee that the STS did not have the means to perform wiretapping. General Oprisan explained: "The recent speculations are groundless as the STS does not have the resources or the logistics to wiretap Members of Parliament. We hope that this matter will be closed upon my hearing, which has convinced the committee that any involvement is impossible."

Asked whether he was going to order an internal SPP investigation to establish whether some of the SPP employees may have engaged in such activities, Oprisan concluded that an investigation was not necessary, whereas the meeting with the members of the committee was.