The unimpaired ethics of the NBR

The wife of the chief of cabinet of the Governor of the National Bank of Romania, Mr. Dumitru Ghica, owns the company "Oxygen Servicii" SRL, known in the banking sector as Oxygen Events. The company organizes conferences at the headquarters of the NBR, which are attended by the representatives of the Central Bank and for which attendance fees are charged. These events are sponsored by banks.

According to the website of the company, since its creation, Oxygen Events has organized over 40 conferences, which have seen over 6,000 participants. These have been attended by reputed guests, such as the Governor of the Central Bank of Romania, Mugur Isărescu, Mihai Tănăsescu, the former representative of Romania at the IMF and vice-president of the European Investment Bank, Marcel Opriş, a director at the STS, Steven van Groningen, president of Raiffeisen Bank România, Radu Graţian Gheţea, president of CEC Bank, together with other bank presidents and officials of the Romanian state.

In 2012, Oxygen Servicii had two employees, according to data from the Ministry of Finance.

When asked whether this situation didn't in fact represent a conflict of interest, Mugur Şteţ, spokesperson of the NBR said: "The National Bank of Romania constantly supports the organizing of debates on essential economic and social topics of our country. From that point of view, the National Bank of Romania has hosted numerous c conferences and seminars initiated by various organizers, including Oxygen Servicii SRL, as well as the < BURSA > press group".

Lawyer Gheorghe Piperea said: "Conflict of interest represents < the situation where an individual who holds a public office or is a public dignitary has a personal financial interest in a business, which could affect his objective fulfillment of its duties that are derived from the Constitution and other regulations > (according to the definition given by art. 70 of the Law no. 161/2003 concerning some measures to ensure transparency in the exercising of the public and business positions, and the prevention and punishment of corruption).

Art. 79. of the Law no. 161/2003 stipulates that < A public servant is in a situation of conflict of interest if their financial interests, those of their spouse or their 1st degree relatives could influence the decisions which they have to make in carrying out their duties deriving from the public position they hold >.

Given that the wife of Mr. Dumitru Ghica holds 100% of the share capital of Oxygen Servicii SRL, it is obvious that he has a financial interest in having the NBR host the conferences organized by Oxygen Servicii SRL at the headquarters of the NBR. The remedy stipulated by the law to avoid the conflict of interest consists of instituting the obligation of the public servant to abstain from solving the request, making the decision or participating in the making of a decision that would be influenced by their financial interest and to immediately notify their direct supervisor to whom they answer directly. In this legislative context, for a conflict of interest to exist, it is necessary for Mr. Ghica to effectively participate in the making of decisions that would favor Oxygen Servicii SRL in its actions to organize the conferences at the headquarters of the NBR. In spite of this, even if, most likely, Mr. Ghica does not have direct roles on that matter, it is hard to tell whether the company Oxygen Servicii SRL is precisely favored given the interest that the chief of cabinet of the NBR has in it.

The criminal code stipulates that a conflict of interest exists when the public servant, in carrying out its job duties, carries out an act or has participated in the making of a decision by which it has obtained, directly or indirectly, a financial benefit, for themselves or for their spouses. I don't think, however, that this is a criminal liability, rather one that is administrative or ethical".

Analyst Lucian Isar wrote, on his blog, in August last year, referring to the ethics of the governor of the NBR, Mugur Isărescu, and of the NBR itself: "A financial system can not have a development that is sustainable and in harmony with the economy and its customers if it is based on arguable < ethics >.

That arguable ethics shouldn't surprise anybody when considering who is supporting it, namely a person who:

1) does not honor invitations to attend debates, burying any contrary opinions, even though often times they have been the ones that history has validated;

2) whose wine gets bought by the NBR (the employer of Mr. Isărescu) and by the commercial banks;

3) organizes the events at the NBR through Oxygen Events, and the entities supervised by the same employer, (NBR), sponsor them or buy tickets".

In a testimonial on the website of Oxygen Servicii, Cornel Cojocaru, currently an advisor of matters of communication at the NBR, says: "Oxygen Events = where professionalism is at right at home. Including through the fact that the team of Oxygen is the enemy of good and they always strive to do better!"

They couldn't have worded it any better; indeed, Oxygen Events is at home at the NBR.