Up until now there is has been no official charge filed against Microsoft, with the investigation being in a preliminary phase, according to sources quoted by the Wall Street Journal.
Microsoft announced it was treating the allegations seriously and would cooperate with the authorities in case of an investigation.
The Romanian Ministry of Communications told the WSJ that the publication’s data largely did not match that in the ministry’s archives and that the institution did not know and could not provide details on the relationship between Microsoft and its resellers.
From 2004 until the present the Romanian state has paid to Microsoft and its partners $104 million and EUR99 million, with a further EUR46 million to be paid until 2015.
The investigation launched by the US federal authorities into alleged bribery given by Microsoft partners to Romanian government officials in return for contracts targets the 2008-2009 period, when the Communications Ministry was led by Karoly Borbely (UDMR) and Gabriel Sandu (PD-L), according to more detailed information sent by the Ministry to the Wall Street Journal, which had written on the matter.
According to ZF and Mediafax data, as well as to data made available by the Communications Ministry, in 2008 and 2009 addenda and contracts worth EUR104 million and $58 million were signed with Microsoft and its partners.
In 2008, during the time when Romania’s Government was led by Calin Popescu Tariceanu and the Communications Minister was Karoly Borbely (UDMR), several addenda were signed with Microsoft, with payment obligations ending up at $31 million and $26 million. These amounts were not paid in 2008, but passed on to the next government, which was formed after the 2008 elections.
In 2009 the new government, made up of USL and PD-L after 2008 parliamentary elections, led by Emil Boc (PD-L), when the vice-premier was Dan Nica (PSD) and Communications Minister was Gabriel Sandu (PD-L) discussed the contracts with Microsoft.
The Government only paid one bill, for $31 million, in May 2009, and did not pay the $26 million one. On the other hand, the Government organized an auction to buy software for the public sector, which was won in August by a consortium of several companies.
In August and September two contracts were signed with this consortium, for a three-year period, worth a total of over EUR104 million.
If the information published by the Wall Street Journal is true, the contracts under investigation are the above-mentioned ones.
Gabriel Sandu (PD-L), who was Communications Minister in 2009, when the Romanian state paid to Microsoft and its partners $31 million and signed further contracts worth EUR104 million, says it is impossible for these contracts to be under the suspicion of corruption since they were signed under the strict monitoring of the Government, the IMF and of the secret services, and blames the current scandal on his refusal to accept the payment of a $26 million bill to Microsoft reseller Fujitsu.
“I refused to pay this amount – $26 million and subsequently a huge scandal started, with both Fujitsu and Microsoft. The two companies then filed complaints against us everywhere, from the IMF to the US Embassy, the Austrian Embassy, the Presidency, the Government. We faced huge pressure from the US Embassy, the Austrian Embassy, we were accused of not observing intellectual property rights. The issue of these payments ended up on the agenda of talks with the IMF after companies filed complaints,” Sandu told ZF.
“The current scandal started from that payment that I refused to make, of $26 million. When I left the ministry, the fairness of that bill was still being assessed,” Sandu insisted.
As for the contracts for over EUR100 million signed by the Government subsequently, Sandy says they are above all suspicion.
“We expected 200 Microsoft dealers to come to the auction. In what demented scenario could we have expected that only one would come, out of 200?”
Asked if he knew the shareholders of D-Con, the leader of the consortium that won the contract, Sandu said he didn’t. “I don’t know who the shareholders are, nor do I care, I don’t even know if I signed the contract. I felt it was a ‘hot potato’ and wanted to stay away from it.”
The winner of the EUR104 million contract was the association of D-Con.Net AG, D-Con.Net GmbH, Comsoft Direct AG, Bechtle Holding Schweiz AG, Dim Soft SRL and Microsoft Romania (as subcontractor).
D-Con.Net (Switzerland), a provider of software and IT services, fully bought D.I.M. Soft SRL in December 2009 for EUR3.075 million.
The shareholders of Swiss company D-Con.Net, with whom a new contract for Microsoft licenses was signed in December 2012, are not known. However, documents appeared last year in the Official Gazette, according to which the representative of Swiss company D-Con Net AG is Romanian Claudiu Ionut Florica.
Claudiu Florica worked in Compaq Romania’s sales team alongside Calin Tatomir until Compaq was bought by HP, in the early 2000s. Then Claudiu Florica left to Fujitsu Romania. Calin Tatomir was CEO of Microsoft Romania between 2008 and 2010. Calin Tatomir and Claudiu Florica could not be contacted for details by deadline.
(English version by Daniela Stoican)