THE ISSUE OF OMAR HAYSSAM Adding American fuel to the fire

Former DIICOT prosecutor Ciprian Nastasiu yesterday held a press conference on the occasion of the launch of the book by Romanian-American writer Victor Gaetan, which will be published under the title "The Robbing of Romania". In the book, the former DIICOT prosecutor makes several shocking revelations about the cases he was working on before being sacked, including the Hayssam case.

Nastasiu said that one day before his dismissal for disciplinary reasons on June 2nd, 2008, at the request of the general prosecutor, Laura Codruţa Kovesi, he had requested the extension of the wiretapping warrant of several politicians, some of which had close ties to Traian Băsescu.

• Arms traffic, the privatizations file and the privatization of Alro

Former prosecutor Ciprian Nastasiu claims that his findings in the arms traffic case, in which he had received some information from Omar Hayssam, concerned Transnistria, Russia, the Near East, and Northern Africa, were confirmed by the indictments of the American investigators. When asked for the names of people involved in arms traffic, that Hayssam provided, Nastasiu said: "I can"t give names of people involved in the case".

The investigation in the arms traffic case was made in conjunction with the one in the privatizations case, in which Vadim Benyatov Don, American citizen of Russian descent, head of the energy markets division of Credit Suisse First Boston Europe (CSFB) Ltd. London had been indicted. "The count was subversion of the national economy, not treason", Nastasiu said.

Nastasiu also mentioned the privatization of Alro Statina: "The strategy that was used was the same as the one in the case of fraudulent privatizations (in which action was brought against Bulgarian consultant Stamen Stanchev, former Ministry advisors Dorinel Mucea and Radu Donciu, former Communications minister Zsolt Nagy and former minister of the Economy Codruţ Sereş - ed. note)". Nastasiu said that the aforementioned persons were monitored for two weeks, and that he had asked the Supreme Court to extend the wiretapping warrant requested by prosecutor Doru Cristescu by an additional 30 days.

The case of Benyatov Don was separated from the others by means of the ordinance of January 11, 2007, and the case with the number 30 was created, which contained investigations of Dan Voiculescu, Bogdan Chirieac, Theodor Stolojan, Verestoy Attila, Elena Udrea and Dorin Cocoş, for lobby actions, and influencing decision-makers in those specific privatizations.

The former prosecutor admitted that the information which led to the set up of the privatizations case also appeared first in a memo of the Romanian intelligence Service. When asked why he chose to pursue the privatizations investigation first and prosecute Stanchev and Benyatov, and leave politicians last", Nastasiu said that it was the time to act: "Things started moving faster in the case of strategic privatizations because Benyatov had returned to Romania. He would briefly visit Romania once every four or five months. He attended an energy conference on November 22, 2006, and he was scheduled to leave afterwards. That is when due to the state of things, the decision was made to arrest him and to begin the legal procedures against him", Nastasiu explained.

Ciprian Nastasiu also said: "On July 2nd, I requested that the Supreme Court extend the wiretapping warrant. The next day I was dismissed! So there was nothing more to say, it was over!"

Nastasiu also said that at the time, he asked president Traian Băsescu for a meeting in which he would inform him about the people in his entourage that were investigated by DIICOT, but he says the president refused to meet him, saying he would not meet anybody from the Prosecutor"s office until everything was clear.

Nastasiu also mentioned the situation of his former partner with which he worked on this case, Doru Cristescu, which he said was now an "early retiree".

Nastasiu on the Hayssam case: Kovesi gets her orders directly from Traian Băsescu

Ciprian Nastasiu also said that in the investigation of the Hayssam case, he was backed by former general prosecutor Ilie Botoş, but things changed once he was replaced by Laura Codruţa Kovesi, whom he accused of pressuring him.

The former DIICOT prosecutor said that Laura Codruţa Kovesi forbade him from going to Syria in order to hear Hayssam and accused her of getting direct orders from president Traian Băsescu. Nastasiu also says he was made the "scapegoat" for Omar Hayssam"s flight.

In turn, Romanian-American writer Victor Gaetan, who was present at the press conference yesterday, accused Traian Băsescu that last year he went to Syria in order to hide the truth about Hayssam"s flight from Romania.

Gaetan also accused Băsescu of removing capable prosecutors from the system and said in terms of the fight against corruption, the president"s mandate was a failure.

At the same time, Gaetan said that in Washington it was known since 2005 that the "the Professor" (ed. note: a moniker used by Hayssam in his phone conversations) was Traian Băsescu.

Referring to the sources used, Gaetan and Nastasiu said that the book used information declassified by the American authorities, interviews with prosecutors and agents, sources from the US State Department, as well as the help of former Romanian prosecutors. The book also benefited from the legal expertise of some Romanian and American lawyers, and part of the information used also include information gathered in the cases the DIICOT is currently investigating.