Vîntu and Luca, haunted by the ghost of "Petromservice"

Sorin Ovidiu Vîntu and Liviu Luca were summoned yesterday at the General Prosecutors' Office, of the High Court of Cassation and Justice, to be presented with the criminal case concerning "Petromservice".

Last month, at the request of the prosecutors, Sorin Ovidiu Vîntu provided statements in that case, in which he was investigated together with the former managers of the company, for the looting of "Petromservice", as the losses caused through controlled bankruptcy exceed 83 million Euros. Besides, on July 19th, prosecutors of the Prosecution and Forensics of the Prosecutors' Office of the High Court of Cassation and Justice was informed by Sorin Ovidiu Vîntu that it has decided to begin prosecution against him for money laundering.

In November 2011, Sorin Ovidiu Vîntu and Liviu Luca were arrested for 24 hours, being charged with embezzlement, to the detriment of "Petromservice" SA, and money laundering. According to the prosecutors, the controlled bankruptcy of the company caused it to lose 83,163,165 Euros and affected 72,000 members of the employee union of the company. At the time, the prosecutors froze the accounts, and seized 83 properties owned by the two men (46 plots of land, five apartments, hotels, restaurants, retail areas, an 8-floor building), cars and boats. In this case, on November 8th, 2011, the Court of Bucharest also issued an arrest warrant for the Moldovan businessman Octavian Ţurcan, the former general manager of "Petromservice" Gheorghe Şupeală, the former CFO of "Petromservice" Zizi Anagnostopol, Prahova businessman Mihai Sorin, Mihai Viorel Râmboacă, Răzvan Florin Râmboacă, Daniela Braşoveanu and Ioan Bohâlţeanu, being charged with embezzlement, complicity to embezzlement and money laundering. They were released one week later, following a decision of the Court of Appeal of Bucharest, which ruled that they should be investigated without being detained.

Also in November, the National Tax Administration Agency (ANAF) has asked for the reopening of the case by which the prosecutors of the National Anticorruption Department by which the prosecutors have asked a VAT reimbursement of over 60 million Euros to "Petromservice", after, six months ago, the prosecutors had proven that it was the Tax Administration itself that had agreed to the repayment of the VAT.

In fact, in May 2011, the anticorruption department has decided to end the criminal prosecution of the people who managed the company when the bankruptcy occurred (Sorin Mihai, Ioan Bohâlţeanu, Radu Bogdan Negrutzi, Raicovich Graziano and Gheorghe Şupeală). The ruling of the prosecutors of the National Anticorruption Department, presented in the media, explained those reasons: "The VAT repayment loan occurred after the fiscal authority notified the contracting parties (< Petrom > and < Petromservice >) that the operation which they conducted through the contract for the transfer of assets was exempt from VAT payment. Indeed, the opinion complies with the decisions of art. 128 paragraph 7 of the Law 571/2003. therefore, it can't be claimed that it there is ill-faith involved".

The probe of the prosecutors began three years ago, when they launched several audits at companies which were controlled behind the scenes by Liviu Luca and Sorin Ovidiu Vîntu. The fact that companies which were posting losses requested the repayment of VAT in the millions of Euros, aroused the suspicion of the authorities.