Social Democratic Party (PSD) Lower Chamber MP Adrian Tutuianu, Chairman of the SRI Oversight Committee, stated that the committee should discuss the involvement of some companies in the protests that took place these days in Bucharest and throughout the country – based on intelligence that the Romanian Intelligence Service might have in this sense – in order to see whether these aspects fall under the incidence of Article 11 of the national security law.
“I saw you twisted my words a bit, I’ll say it again. There is some information and I’ll give you a detail, maybe we’ll understand each other [better] in juridical terms. If a company uses its own assets, its own capital, to support some activities, Law no.31/1990 says that’s a crime. Using the company’s capital or assets for personal interest or for the interest of another person is a discussion that has to take place and this must be analysed,” Adrian Tutuianu said.
According to him, the issue he raised must be analysed from the standpoint of national security.
“The second thing I very clearly said. I’m interested from the standpoint of national security. There is Article 11 of the national security law, which very clearly stipulates that when the goal sought is to replace state authority through violent means and so forth, the issue is a national security issue,” Tutuianu said.
The chairman of the SRI Oversight Committee said he does not know whether this is the case in Romania. “I don’t know, this is an answer that the Romanian Intelligence Service will give. I’m not the one giving it. I’ve raised an issue. (…) I’m raising a question because, for instance, a newspaper from Prahova – I’m working with public information – said that the employees of a foreign company were forced to take part in the public rally. This is not legal. You really don’t want to understand what I’m saying? I’m saying it very accurately, I’m talking about non-legal things, I’m not accusing anyone but I believe state institutions should give us an answer,” Tutuianu added.
When asked by journalists whether he saw assets belonging to commercial companies at the protests, Tutuianu asked them to be more “analytical.”
“I believe you don’t understand the notion of asset. When you use one, two, three, seven, ten company cars, when you pay from the company’s accounts for cars to go to activities of this type, isn’t that the use of the company’s assets or capital? Let’s be a bit more analytical and not just pick up what seems sensational,” Tutuianu answered.
The chairman of the SRI Oversight Committee announced on Friday that he sent Romanian Intelligence Service Director Eduard Hellvig a letter asking him for a report on four aspects related to the street protests that took place in recent days.
“In respect to the information that came up in the public space regarding the SRI briefing about the protests on the 1 February 2017 and the statements of Interior Minister Carmen Dan, made at the press conference held on 2 February, at the Interior Affairs Ministry (MAI) headquarters, we request a briefing, from which to result the following: 1 – What pieces of information were conveyed to the MAI, what were the means used to send the information and who were the recipients; 2 – If the legal recipients – namely the President of Romania, the Interior Minister, the General mayor of Bucharest – have been informed in regards to the events according to the provisions of the article 11 of the Law No.51/1991 regarding the national security of Romania; 3 – If there have been recorded threats regarding the national security through violent actions, if activities have been identified, that targeted the weakening of the state power or aiming to remove, by force, the democratic institutions of the state; 4 – To what extent such activities concerned the Directorate General for Defending the Constitution,” Adrian Tutuianu detailed the request he sent to the SRI in a press conference.
SRI head Hellvig and IntMin Dan invited to SRI activity oversight commitee in Parliament
Director of the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) Eduard Hellvig and Interior Affairs Minister Carmen Dan were invited to the SRI activity parliamentary oversight committee for discussions, in respect to the street protests, President of the Committee Adrian Tutuianu announced on Monday.
He mentioned that the meeting will take place on Thursday, at 10:00 hrs.
