The ongoing investigation highlights persistent challenges in maintaining transparency and integrity within Romania’s defence sector.

Located near Constanta, Romania, the Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base has been a critical hub for NATO operations since 1999. It played a significant role during U.S. military operations in Iraq in 2003 and continues to be expanded as part of NATO’s efforts to strengthen its presence in Eastern Europe.

Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base plays a pivotal role in enhancing regional security but also faces challenges related to corruption investigations similar to those seen previously at other Romanian institutions involved with defence activities.

Current Investigation

The DNA and U.S. judicial authorities are probing allegations that a Greek citizen bribed foreign officials to secure fuel supply contracts worth millions of euros for his company. This case underscores broader concerns about corruption within defence procurement processes.

In the past, there have been reports of diesel theft from generators at the U.S. military section of the base, indicating systemic vulnerabilities that could facilitate corrupt practices.

Romania has recently faced numerous high-profile corruption cases, including the investigation of a high official in the Romanian Army, General Catalin Stefanita Zisu, who was, until his detention, the head of Romania’s Joint Logistic Command, wrote headlines in the local newspapers for the day. He was recently placed under legal control for abuse of office.

The investigation into alleged bribery at Mihail Kogalniceanu highlights specific challenges related to defence procurement and broader issues within Romania’s anti-corruption landscape. As one of Europe’s key military bases expands its capabilities, ensuring transparency will be crucial for maintaining public trust and international cooperation amidst geopolitical tensions with Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.

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The foreign payments raise questions about Hunter Biden’s business activities while his father was vice president, but the committee does not suggest any illegality about the payments from foreign sources. The bank records by themselves also do not indicate the payment’s purpose.

Payments from Romania

Bank records cited in the committee’s memo show that within five weeks of then-Vice President Biden’s meeting with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis in 2015, a Romanian who Hunter Biden was doing legal consulting, Gabriel Popoviciu, started sending money to Rob Walker, a business associate of Hunter’s.

Walker received more than $3 million from November 2015 to May 2017 and wired approximately $1 million in various installments to Hunter Biden, his business associate James Gillian, and Hallie Biden, the widow of the president’s oldest son, Beau Biden, who died in May 2015. Hallie Biden and Hunter Biden were romantically involved after Beau’s death.

This shadows all the efforts the US made to quench corruption in Romania. Headlines like “Corrupt Romanian Paid Biden Family $1 Million as Joe Biden Pushed Anti-Corruption Measures in Romania” erase all the American administration’s efforts in this direction.

As expected (it’s no longer a secret that Romanian diplomacy prefers not to answer questions or clear things out), there is no reply from Romania yet and no official reaction on the subject.

Payments from China

The memo also alleges that two Chinese nationals paid $100,000 to Hunter Biden’s professional corporation through a Chinese-backed energy company. Republicans claim that at least one of those individuals had ties to the Communist Party of China. These transactions and Hunter Biden’s relationship with a Chinese-backed energy company once his father left the VP’s office, have long been known.

The memo alleges that the two Chinese nationals were connected to CEFC, a Chinese energy conglomerate with a business relationship with Hunter Biden.

We all must understand this in the complex context of the political fight in Washington. Yesterday, former President Donald Trump went straight to CNN. Trump accused Biden, during the campaign three years ago, he received money from China, but Biden denied it. Now, Congress discovers evidence Trump was pretty right about it.

Weeks ago, Trump’s presence at CNN would have been inconceivable. But American politics might have entered the long straight line until next year’s elections. Countries like Romania are caught in a political war which it’s not theirs.

To be completely transparent about all that – no one says Biden family received dirty money to intervene or to solve a particular situation. But the simple act of receiving money from a convicted businessman while the American administration was pretty clear about corruption is enough to cast doubt on all the other legitimate efforts.

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Ukraine won the Eurovision Song Contest, but the grand finale couldn’t end without a scandal. Because the invasion of Ukraine and the entire military escalation in the region attracted the whole planet’s attention and generated millions of political or philanthropic reactions, Ukraine was expected to be favoured.

It is not a surprise that Eurovision is more about politics than music. Everybody knows it, but no one is saying anything about the irregularities of Eurovision.

On the evening when Romania was going to broadcast the score, a few minutes before the live broadcast of the presenter of the Romanian station that broadcast Eurovision, Eda Marcus, it was reported that Romania had technical problems.

Here’s what happens when Mika announced that Romania has ”technical difficulties”:

The video above is a recording of Eda Marcus, the presenter who had to broadcast Romania’s points live. Her reaction says it all. She couldn’t believe what was happening and that with a couple of moments before the broadcast.

The Romanian presenter also explained what happened behind the scenes

TVR (Romanian television) points out that the presenter Eda Marcus was not allowed to communicate live the results of the Romanian judging by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). The EBU annulled the vote of the Romanian jury.

It should be noted that the Eurovision show is recorded one night before the broadcast to avoid unforeseen situations that could jeopardise the broadcast. However, the judging is broadcast live. The jury, which was appointed by Romanian television to judge the artistic moments, met on Friday evening and voted. The procedure is standard. The score is uploaded to a platform before the organizers have the score. In Romania’s situation, the jury offered Moldova maximum points meaning that the 12 points were allocated to Moldova, not to Ukraine, as later announced by European Broadcasting Union.

The scores are uploaded to an online platform, they are processed on the evening of the show and a few minutes before I go live, the EBU practically takes out of that platform where these notes were introduced by my colleagues, a sheet that I have to show in the presence of a notary. This sheet is printed and brought to me in 5 minutes. (…) Imagine the shock of my colleague, Diana Damian, who took care of this procedure when she handed me with that sheet, knowing what was the ranking she had given the night before when she looked at the sheet and saw 12 points for Ukraine.

Eda Marcu, presenter on Romanian television

EBU has been notified in advance of this mistake. According to the Romanian television presenter, EBU communicated something evasive.

We were told to do as written, that they are EBU and that they will clarify the situation. That’s how I ended up with the 12-point sheet for Ukraine and couldn’t broadcast live anymore.

Eda Marcu, presenter on Romanian television

What were the real scores offered by Romania at EUROVISION

The total scores offered by Romania were the following: Moldova – 12 points, Grece – 10 points, Poland – 8 points, Netherlands – 7 points, Azerbaijan – 6 points, Australia – 5 points, Italy – 4 points, Spain – 3 points, Finland – 2 points, Lithuania – 1 point.

Even though it was reported that Romania had technical problems, after the end of the contest, it was announced that the jury from Romania and other countries was disqualified. According to EBU, the juries of six nations participating in the second EUROVISION 2022 semi-final have been disqualified due to irregularities. Instead, a replacement aggregate result was introduced for each country concerned, both for the second semi-final and for the grand final (calculated based on the results of other countries with a similar voting history). The six disqualified national juries were Azerbaijan, Georgia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania and San Marino.

Now, some believe that this whole issue with Ukraine has grown and that it has gone too far. Others say that if the Eurovision game was already set to be won by the Ukrainians, why did they hide it. One thing is clear. Eurovision has always been a political game, with a lot of money and interest in the middle behind a curtain of empathy, reminiscent of this year. In order not to be the victim of such a game, Romania should permanently withdraw from this competition, and many other countries should do the same.

Photo Source: Eurovision World

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The period of time targeted mainly covers the presidential elections from last year, but also other periods during which the Social-Democratic Party financed the publication or broadcasting of their messages by mass-media institutions.

In Romania, political parties receive a certain subsidy from the national public budget and they can use it to promote their political platform and their political messages through mass-media. In 2019, PSD received around EUR 1.5 million a month as subsidy, but the sums decreased substantially this year, following the change in regulation.

The investigation is not new. The former treasurer of the PSD was criminally charged with using some of the money to his own benefit, but he was replaced by the party before the presidential campaign from last year. This means that the investigation conducted at the moment targets other persons. There are rumors it could be implicated the former leader of the party, Mrs. Viorica Dancila, for deeds while she was also acting as Romanian PM. She assumed the leadership of the organization after the previous leader of the party was sentenced to jail in June 2018.

One question remains unanswered: why the Anti-corruption Directorate started a new investigation now, just a few months before the local and parliamentary elections? This strategy is not new in Romania, and population witnessed for many times in the past as the anti-corruption structures brought their ‘contribution‘ to the social and political life in Romania by investigating key political figures or political parties in key or decisive moments.

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