Vântu: "GENTLEMEN, ISOLATE BĂSESCU!" Băsescu has isolated Vântu first

Traian Băsescu has got the drop on Sorin Ovidiu Vântu and isolated him first, before being himself isolated on the political scene (like Vântu suggested in his last interview - "BURSA" of August 9th).

Of course, this is all just a metaphor, because no one can claim that Vântu was arrested at the request of the President, since it was the Bucharest Police that held him (for 24 hours), after he had come in for hearings on the matter of the flight abroad of Nicolae (Viorel) Popa, his former right hand man in the "Gelsor" group (who by running away, avoided a 15 year term in prison for his role in the FNI fraud).

Saying that Băsescu arrested Vântu is a horrible oversimplification of a terribly complicated case. Oversimplifying is exactly what Vântu is doing when, after leaving yesterday"s hearings he stated: "I hope to see Băsescu in my place, when he loses a battle for the first time!"

Well in fact, things actually look like this:

-Nicolae Popa, a nice and intelligent man, quiet and polite, actually executed almost everything that Vântu had conceived; sometime before the year 2000, a personal problem prevented him from serving as the frontman for Vântu in the Gelsor business, from which he retired (a major loss for Vântu); he fled /left abroad, and was put on the Interpol wanted list. Vântu appeared on TV in 2001, claiming that there was no truth to the claim that the Interpol was looking for Popa, and that the latter was actually in Sweden, where he had opened a restaurant. In an interview in "Cotidianul",

Vântu even said that he was still in touch with Popa (see the blog of Ovidiu Zara).

- Some time after the statements made by Vântu, Nicolae Popa was sentenced by a definitive ruling on June 4th 2009, to 15 years in prison (there were several trials actually, starting in 2006), was located in Indonesia, and was arrested by the Interpol in December 2009, and this year, on August 25th, the Indonesians signed his extradition and he is expected to arrive in Romania, if he hasn"t already;

-The Prosecutors" Office yesterday heard Vântu, probably because he had helped Popa with money during his stay abroad, and/or that he had also helped him flee/leave abroad;

It was the police that detained Vântu.

What has president Traian Băsescu got to do with all that?!

Nothing.

Where does Traian Băsescu appear in the events of this case?!

Nowhere at all.

At most, it could be said that the Police and the Prosecutors" Office are doing their job and that their only connection to Băsescu is that they are doing their job under the "Băsescu regime".

Would they have done it differently under a different regime?

No. They would have done the same.

The connection between Vântu and Popa was never denied, it is notorious and well known, since 2003, (see the "Testimonial" presented hereinafter). The real instigator behind Popa fleeing abroad was Vântu, who was in Romania almost permanently and never concealed his phone number or address.

In spite of all this, the Police did not arrest him and the Prosecutor"s Office couldn"t actually pin much on him, and now when they actually found something to charge him with, it"s too late - the infractions have been prescribed.

It is perhaps just a coincidence, the fact that Vântu and Băsescu personally know each other and were bosom buddies at one time, in the beginning of the presidential term, when Băsescu would grace the TV studios of the former with his presence.

What is the connection between all of the above and the work of the Prosecutors" Office and of the Police?

None whatsoever.

However, the relationship between Vântu and the current president in office has gone a little cold.

Vântu says it is all Băsescu"s fault, because he is "not metaphysical enough".

That he is not capable of the implement any strategy, any project to help the country grow.

"He gets thrown off his horse", Vântu says.

And now he is under arrest.

In fact the question is not whether or not it was Băsescu who arrested him, but whether or not Vântu is guilty.

I tend to believe he is - he said it himself that he kept in touch with Popa.

As long as he had ties to a guilty man, was it really wise to be roasting the president for being lacking in the metaphysical department?!