THE MEDIAFAX LOT, TAKEN TO COURT  Adrian Sârbu, in 2006: "Năstase is going to come in and grant a tax amnesty"

Adrian Sârbu, the owner of Mediafax, has been indicted at the end of March, on charges of tax evasion, abetting embezzlement and money laundering. Prosecutors allege through the entire criminal activities conducted in his own name and through the companies that he used to control and also given the fact that some amounts were recycled some amounts through the circuits created, the total losses caused by Adrian Sârbu to the consolidated state budget amount to about 14 million Euros.

In order to recoup the money, prosecutors seized several properties located in France, which were identified with the help of the National Office to Combat Criminality and Collect Claims resulting from Criminal Acts of the Ministry of Justice.

Between 2000 and 2003, BURSA published dozens of articles (you can review the Media Pro Dossier on www.bursa.ro), which have presented evidence of the fiscal maneuvers committed by Adrian Sârbu, maneuvers tolerated by the authorities, regardless of their political orientation. The only media entity to consistently write about the topic was BURSA, the newspaper which was shunned by the rest of the press, even though the European institutions have acknowledged the situation that we reported on, of the mass-media being subordinated to the state, and the "Securities and Exchange Commission" (SEC) of Washington started an investigation on the dealings of Adrian Sârbu's business partner, Ronald Lauder, based on what we published in Bucharest.

Between 1995 and 2002, Media Pro, which owned the TV station Pro TV, paid nothing to the state budget, no taxes, no social security contributions, nothing at all.

Those debts were repeatedly cancelled. That wasn't enough, and in 2002 Media Pro received about 168 billion lei in state aid "for culture"), approved by the Competition Council.

Adrian Sârbu was so convinced that he would be bailed out again, that according to the prosecution case, he used to tell people in the management that "Adrian Năstase is going to become prime-minister and he will grant a tax amnesty", according to their statements.

• Mediafax Group, taken to court

Mediafax Group SA, which is currently insolvent and whose main creditor is ING Bank, has also been sued for tax evasion.

Prosecutors have also indicted Roxana Grigoruţă (former administrator of SC Mediafax Group SA, Mediafax SA and Apropo Media SRL) on charges of tax evasion and embezzlement; Eugenia Bălan (former administrator of SC Mediafax Group SA), Cosmina Noaghea (former managing director of SC Publimedia International SA), Orlando Nicoară (former managing director of SC Mediafax Group SA, Mediafax SA and Apropo Media SRL), Dinu Sorin (former CFO of SC Publimedia International SA and SC Mediafax Group SA), Daniela Cozac (former CFO of SC Mediafax Group SA, Mediafax SA and Apropo Media SRL), on charges of tax evasion, embezzlement and money laundering; Gheorghe Grădinaru (managing director with SC Teleferic Prahova SA) on charges of embezzlement and money laundering; Liana Petrovici (lawyer) on charges of money laundering; Gheorghe Chiş (lawyer) on charges of complicity to tax evasion and money laundering.

In order to recoup the losses produced through the crimes committed, the prosecutors have decided to seize several immovable assets owned by defendants Sârbu Adrian, Nicoară Ilie Orlando, Petrovici Liana, Chiş Gheorghe Dragoş.

The authorities claim that between 2006 - 2014, the companies of the Mediafax group, owned directly or indirectly by Adrian Sârbu used a system which consisted of paying salaries partially on the basis of employment contracts and partially in the form of royalties, which represented the skeleton of a mechanism to evade the taxes owed to the state budget.

The losses caused to the state budget through the application of this system amount to 27,908,783.25 lei.

Prosecutors further state: "Because the use of the tax evasion system was also intended to cover the personal expenses of defendant Sârbu Adrian or to allow the off-the-books payment of the wages of the company's employees, in parallel with its implementation, defendants have set up fictitious commercial circuits through which the amounts resulting from the crime of tax evasion would return to the company's accounts.

Following the prosecution several types of financial circuits have been created to conceal the true nature and source of the amounts which were returned to the company's accounts. A total amount of 22.424.284.7 lei was laundered through these fictitious commercial and financial circuits.

The evidence administered in the cases in question showed that the administrators, managing directors and chief financial officers of the Publimedia International SA, Mediafax Group SA, Mediafax SA and Apropo Media SA, have acted following the constant requests of defendant Sârbu Adrian, who owned those companies, to find concrete methods to avoid paying the taxes owed to the state, requests addressed as «the unwritten law» of the group was not to pay taxes. Also, their actions were caused by the need to ensure the money that defendant Sârbu Adrian constantly demanded in order to cover his personal expenses".

Prosecutors are also saying that between December 9th, 2009 - June 23rd, 2014, Adrian Sârbu concealed personal earnings resulted from transactions with the CME group, thus avoiding his fiscal debts, as the consolidated budget of the state suffered a loss of 11,255,092 lei.

• Orlando Nicoară în 2014: "Mediafax Group pays its taxes on time"

Orlando Nicoară, former managing director of SC Mediafax Group SA, Mediafax SA and Apropo Media SRL, currently being arraigned by the prosecutors on charges of tax evasion, embezzlement and money laundering, posted a reply to the comments posted on the BURSA website in response to the article "The open letter addressed to finance minister Ioana-Maria Petrescu", claiming that Mediafax Group was paying its taxes on time: "In the same spirit of correctness that you call on, I think it would be fair if you mentioned that Mediafax Group pays its taxes on time, both its current taxes as well as those for which it was granted a rescheduling. The rescheduling of taxes is a normal procedure, and any other company can resort to this solution for paying its taxes, of course, as long as it complies with the laws which regulate such a form of payment. Considering that your entire article is based on the claim that Mediafax Group isn't paying its taxes, a statement which is untrue, as I've said above, please make the necessary corrections in the article".

In response to the statements made by Mr. Nicoară, BURSA published the evolution of the outstanding debts of Mediafax Group SA, obtained through journalistic means, since the incorporation of the company, in August 2010, and up to the last quarter of 2014 (see chart).

The chart showed that a progressive accumulation of the unpaid liabilities existed, since the incorporation of the company, for three years, and then two quarters of slight reductions of the amount of outstanding liabilities occurred.

In their indictment, prosecutors now claim that tax evasion, money laundering and embezzlement were common offenses within the group.

Orlando Nicoară.

That's some nerve, isn't it?