The National Council for the Certification of University Titles, Diplomas and Certificates (CNATDCU) decided on Monday to proposes the cancellation of former Deputy Premier Gabriel Oprea’s Ph.D. title. The decision will be sent to the Education Minister, the Council’s conclusion being that the former deputy premier plagiarised his doctoral thesis.
On July 26, the CNATDCU commission of experts that analysed Gabriel Oprea’s doctoral thesis ruled that the thesis was plagiarised.
Gabriel Oprea’s doctoral thesis – “The filing of charges procedure” – was presented in 2000, at the University of Bucharest’s Law Faculty, university professor Ion Neagu being its coordinator.
After the emergence of information related to the suspicion of plagiarism, similar information appeared in relation to several doctoral theses that the former deputy premier had coordinated, including those of former Bucharest District 2 Mayor Neculai Ontanu and former acting Prosecutor General Bogdan Licu.
Last December, official sources told Mediafax that Gabriel Oprea no longer coordinates doctoral theses at the ‘Mihai Viteazul’ National Intelligence Academy. Subsequently, in March, nine persons who obtained their Ph.D. titles at the ‘Mihai Viteazul’ Academy asked for them to be cancelled. Most of them had had Gabriel Oprea as the coordinator of their theses.
According to sources, those who asked for their Ph.D. titles to be cancelled are: Radu Stroe, former interior minister; Mihai Stanisoara, former defence minister; Bogdan Licu, deputy prosecutor general; Daniel Moldoveanu, former national security advisor; Romeo Raicu, former chairman of Parliament’s Foreign Intelligence Oversight Commission; Mihail Tudose, former economy minister; Neculai Ontanu, former Bucharest District 2 Mayor; Adela Popescu, Gabriel Oprea’s former secretary; Loredana Radu, Gabriel Oprea’s niece.
Oprea to file legal challenge against CNATDCU decision
Former Deputy Prime Minister Gabriel Oprea is not giving up after the General Council of the National Council for the Certification of University Titles, Diplomas and Certificates (CNATDCU) decided to ask for the cancellation of his Ph.D. title due to plagiarism. Oprea claims he respected all standards in force at the time he wrote his doctoral thesis. He announced that he will challenge CNATDCU’s decision and will go to court if the decision remains unchanged.
“In 2000, I wrote a doctoral thesis while observing all the academic and legal norms in force at that time. Nobody had anything to object to it, not the coordinator of my doctoral thesis, not the commission that decided to offer the title to me, not the University of Bucharest. I repeat, we’re talking about the year 2000, back when I was not in politics, I was not a minister, not a party member, not a prefect and I was not thinking about pursuing such a career.”
“Today, more than 15 years later, CNATDCU says I allegedly plagiarised that thesis. I don’t know if those who took this decision carefully verified what were the norms in force 15 years ago. Similarly, I don’t know whether the paper was assessed based on the norms and standards of today (different to those of 2000) or based on the standards in force back then, which I observed. I know however that last year the National Ethics Council officially said that “the suspicions of plagiarism are not confirmed” in my case.”
“So there is an institution that conferred the title, a legally empowered body that concluded that my paper was not plagiarised and today there is a Commission that says differently. Do you find that normal? Neither do I. Precisely because of this, I will ask the Commission, the Ministry and all the institutions that could clarify this situation to clarify the contradiction. In this sense, I will use all legal means at my disposal as a citizen. Consequently, I will challenge CNATDCU’s decision and, if the decision remains unchanged, I will ask the judiciary to shed light on this and I’m sure the court would prove me right,” Gabriel Oprea wrote on Facebook.
