On Sunday, in a talk-show on RomaniaTV, Traian Basescu made new revelations about the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) and the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA). The ex-president stated the two institutions compromised him through the arrest of his brother Mircea Basescu.
“Up until the arrest of my brother, I was straddling the establishment. In what sense. Regardless of what they were doing behind my back, they were living with the fear that next morning I could have signed a dismissal decree. Once my brother was arrested I felt the establishment slipping away. At the moment my brother was arrested, I realised the duplicity of Ms Kovesi and of Mr Coldea and Mr Maior. I had personally informed the SRI that the Bercea clan was pressuring my brother. They had all elements to monitor; they didn’t and they put me in an impossible situation. They didn’t do their job! It was about compromising the president,” Basescu stated on Romania TV.
“Elena Udrea and Laura Codruta Kovesi could never stand each other”
Ex-President Traian Basescu also stated that the case that the DNA opened against Elena Udrea is “fairly flimsy” and that an attempt was made to “silence” Elena Udrea “through repression.”
“After making this denunciation, Ms Udrea gave an interview on the same day, which appeared on Saturday, and on Tuesday she had four arrest demands. At such a rhythm that an arrest demand was arriving in Parliament, from Ms Kovesi, every half hour. I believe it was the reaction to this denunciation and the way in which this dossier with four counts was made, it seems it’s fairly flimsy. An attempt was made to silence Elena Udrea through repression,” ex-President Traian Basescu told RomaniaTV private broadcaster.
Asked about the relation between Laura Codruta Kovesi and Elena Udrea, the ex-president smilingly said that the two “could never stand each other.” “They could never stand each other, there isn’t a starting point. My conviction is they didn’t stand each other, Udrea was more relaxed, which wasn’t the case for Ms Kovesi. I can’t say why two women can’t stand each other. It was also an issue between two women, but it was no longer [that] after the denunciation,” the ex-president said.
Traian Basescu also criticised the sentence that the prosecutors demanded for Elena Udrea.
“It’s obvious Elena Udrea has killed a battalion, because 21 years in prison were demanded. (…) To demand such a punishment in a case that has no evidence but deductions [instead], and there is no conclusive evidence, this tells me something else: the DNA prosecutors’ fear of acquittal. You can’t demand 21 years if you’re sane, for the guilty acts Ms Udrea is accused of. You can demand this if you want to intimidate the court and to demand 21 years so that maybe they’ll sentence her. The DNA is in a relatively difficult situation at this moment, considering the way the trial evolved too,” Traian Basescu added.
