Romanian Environment Min Not Probed, Indicted In Any Corruption Case – Anticorruption Dept

A Parliament inquiry committee is investigating the legitimacy of an EUR5000,000 public contract assigned by the Environment Ministry for the EU-funded environmental project.

Romanian daily Gardianul reported on June 22 that the Ministry of Environment awarded an advertising contract worth about half a million euros, by direct negotiation, to ARS Advertising. The contract was for the promotion of programs regarding the modernization of urban heating systems in areas most affected by pollution, but the program was practically only beginning.

“Ministry officials were unable to say what those concrete projects, that needed such urgent promotion, were,” the paper wrote.

In reply, the Ministry of Environment said three quarters of the sum assigned for the contract with ARS Advertising are European money and its spending will be checked by the European Commission.

Ministry officials also said the advertisements prmoting the environmental project have been and continue to be broadcast on eight Romanian television channels.

The parliamentary committee is also investigating the direct assignment of a EUR15,000 advertising contract to Still Print Forward. During hearings in the Ars Advertising file, the environment minister mentioned this second contract. He said that the contract signed with Still Print File was not an additional act of the Ars Advertising contract.

The Parliament inquiry committee has finished hearings in the case and is expected to present its report on August 10.