The 15th episode of the series „We Are the State!”, who had the title „SIPA Archive had over 3.000 dossiers about judges and prosecutors - An explosive report revealing how compromising documents disappeared and were copied”, which ended with a promise that seem somehow hazardous.
Through it we announced readers that we'll try to show them what happened with this report and where documents are. After the series, which invoked the document, more and more journalists and politicians demanded the declassification of the report and its entry at the disposal of the press.
A gesture imposed by the exigence of the democratic transparency and the suspicion that the Parallel State has intervened. Seeing the extraordinary pressure of public opinion, we were convinced that either the Minister of Justice or the CSAT will decide the report's declassification. That did not happen. And then we decided to get the report ourselves, by means typical to media, capable of anything in order to find out the truth.
Once we entered in possession of the document, we found ourselves facing an unforeseen problem. The report was annotated with the "Secret of Service". Do we publish it or not? We had to take an immediate decision. Dan Andronic, Director and majority shareholder of the newspaper, was away for a few days out of the country. The man with better experience than ours in such situations is Ion Cristoiu. Evenimentul under his leadership, at which many of us have worked, was specialized in publishing documents removed from closed safes. The newspaper also had a column of great interest, among the readers: "I got my hand on...". And then the document was just reproduced simply, without comment.
I sent a message to Dan Andronic by telephone that we have something very strong to publish, but we also have some fears and that's why we decided that the last word would have Mr. Cristoiu. Tuesday evening, in the famous yard of the Academy Library, Ion Cristoiu has shattered any concern. After quickly getting through a few pages of the Document, he said: "That's a press blow! It's a service secret? I'd publish it even if it were a State secret. A secret that reached the press, be it a planetary secret, is no longer a secret!"
As a result, what you read in this editorial is the editorial decision of four journalists who have undertaken to publish a secret document in the name of truth for which the press must do anything.
Simona Ionescu, Ion Cristoiu, Mirel Curea and Dan Andronic
The Secret Report confirms the article from May 17, 2017, entitled "SIPA Archive had over 3.000 dossiers about judges and prosecutors-An explosive report revealing how compromising documents disappeared and were copied| "WE ARE THE STATE!" (XV)
To enhance the understanding of the seriousness of those contained in the Report, we retake the relevant parts in Dan Andronic's article from May 17, about the SIPA Archive and what happened there. In addition to the testimonies obtained from direct sources and recorded in his article, what is written in the Report is a smashing confirmation of his sayings.
The Binomial SRI-DNA would not have functioned so effectively if it wouldn't have a third element, essential for "streamlining" the journey of the dossiers considered a priority by the System, or the so-called target dossiers. When I use this term I refer to the fact that, after many scandals related to the involvement of SRI in the Act of Justice and a statement of General Dumitru Dumbrava, the aria of cooperation of judges with information officers was restricted, but still important folders are tracked, or as I used to say, TARGET DOSSIERS.
Business beginnings are hidden, for the period immediately after 1989, in the SIPA Archive. SIPA Archive is a ghost of the past, used by politicians, information services and other interested parties to get what they want from Justice. It must be said that information gathered by SIPA officers, about 40 percent of them coming from the former Security forces, were extremely interesting, being about intercepts of discussions in prison cells, the criminal charges of some inmates, either direct or indirect, either by provocateurs.
We are also talking about intelligence officers and insidious among inmates, about interceptions and recordings of telephone calls of some judges and prosecutors. At present, the network's informative notes from prisons are kept, being taken over by the new structure under the National Administration of Penitentiaries, i.e. the Directorate-General for Protection and Anti-corruption (DGPA).
The unrelenting SRI
Records of those who had access to classified information had been handed over to the Romanian Intelligence Service, about which, however, is presumed to have, unofficially, many more documents than those taken legally. An arsenal of blackmail, permanently used by those who came into contact with the richness and diversity of the SIPA Archive.
In 2006, Monica Macovei has abolished the service on the grounds that SIPA, renamed DGPA has made abuses, and the Ministry does not need a secret service. After being removed from the leadership of the Service, Marian Ureche was accused by CNSAS of political police before 1989.
A year later, in the period April-December, 2007, Tudor Chiuariu, who became Minister of Justice, establishes a Commission of inquiry which will verify how Monica Macovei has accomplished the Government decision to abolish SIPA. Then, in 2008, Minister Catalin Predoiu took the Commission established by Chiuariu, but at the end of his term, despite recommendations, he refused to notice any State institution. Folders of some magistrates disappeared and documents were copied. During the period 2006-2008, SIPA has undergone a full inventory, being called on several commissions.
Operation of spoliation of SIPA archive begins!
We had at our disposal a series of testimonies and documents which talk about an important moment: the inventory of SIPA Archive. Based on them we can say that there are serious indications that during Monica Macovei's term as Minister of Justice there were (at least) interesting manipulations of the documents from SIPA Archive.
The last Minister of Justice who discovered these things was, in 2008, ex -Minister of Justice Catalin Predoiu, only that his predecessor, Tudor Chiuariu, in 2007, was the one who set up a Commission to verify how the first Justice Minister which took care of the abolition of this information service directed against magistrates, Monica Macovei, has handled secret documents. Catalin Predoiu is the one who, frightened by the magnitude of the scandal, preferred to do nothing, to make a report which he didn't forwarded to any of the State institutions.
Predoiu’s silence
Although he was expressly asked to notice the CSAT and SRI for the way some of the documents were handled and copied, that had the stamp SSID, SS or S. Why was Catalin Predoiu silent? Because from this unending document OASIS, in a particular historical moment, all have served. What is it about?
About evidence that from SIPA Archive, while it was listed by the Commission appointed by Monica Macovei, DOCUMENTS WERE COPIED.
About evidence that from the SIPA ARCHIVE WERE STOLEN AND DESTROYED FILES OF SOME MAGISTRATES WHO, LATER ON ADVANCED HIERARCHICALLY UP TO THE HIGHEST LEVEL.
These are serious allegations, which I assume, but that can be proven at any time through the hearing of members of the boards of inventory of the SIPA Archives, of the Ministry of Justice employees, by consulting official documents.
A mess on behalf of order
According to the documents consulted by the author of the article and the discussions that we've had with several people involved in the inventory of documents, during the term as Minister of Monica Macovei was formed the first Commission for inventorying the OPERATIVE ARCHIVE of DGPA. By the order 790/20.03.2006 was established this Commission which conducted an inventory of the documents until the end of 2006.
In other words, they put it in order, using the archives criteria. Only that those criteria meant the destruction of file cabinet system used for archives like SIPA and the application of inventory criteria which made any search impossible.
Later it was found that this Commission has not fulfilled its duties in full, because after it was put in order they ignored the second obligation provided in the Government decision no. 127/26.01.2006, which clearly specifies that these documents must be handed, after inventory, to the National Archives, national security institutions etc.… They (only) put it in order, because the second part of operation was next...
Commission of the Two!
So appeared the second Commission, in January 2007, which was also formed by order of the Minister of Justice Monica Macovei, which consisted ONLY of TWO PEOPLE! People she trusted, well-known judge Castillo Danilet and prosecutor Paul Dumitriu, at that time head of Internal Affairs of the Ministry of Justice. Both have advanced hierarchically up at the highest level, the first being a member of the SUPREME COUNCIL of MAGISTRATES, and the second, Deputy Chief Prosecutor of Section II DNA.
To be exact, I want to mention that from the testimony and documents I've received all I can say is that only one of them was most certainly involved in the copying and destroying SIPA ARCHIVE. I am referring to the role played by Judge Cristi Danileț, which does not mean that a criminal investigation would not outline others involved. It is certain, however, that both people involved in the second Commission did not respect the mandate given by Monica Macovei, by not making any report with proposals concerning the destination of the SIPA OPERATIVE ARCHIVE.
Furthermore, Danileț and Dumitriu went into the SIPA ARCHIVES without elaborating protocol regarding the activity of the Commission. Meaning they have been reluctant to leave any trace of their presence there, although access rules in an archive containing top secret documents are strict. An access register is completed, consulted documents are mentioned, certain files that are taken are indicated, all under signature. It's just that the rules of access in the SIPA archive were totally different, in the sense that there was no rule.
Serious irregularities!
Moreover, Tudor Chiuariu and Catalin Predoiu, Ministers of Justice, in 2007 and 2008, the date on which the new Commission works, found a number of irregularities, which could have serious indications of infringements.
A high-tech copier which was used to copy also files handed over to Monica Macovei
In addition to the two close to Monica Macovei who searched the SIPA ARCHIVE without elaborating a protocol and the final report which they were required by order of the Minister of Justice, another Commission was formed, also by Monica Macovei, who handled the classified information. This Commission was headed by Prosecutor Paul Dumitriu, current Deputy of Section II DNA.
These documents originated from SIPA and DGPA archive, being notes on possible crimes committed by magistrates. A passage from the report made by the Justice Minister Catalin Predoiu is revolting and I will quote it as such, without comment: members of the Commission designated by OMJ no. 106/C/03.02.2005 totaled documents from the operative archive in the Service of classified information from the Ministry of Justice which they handed to the Minister of Justice Monica Macovei.
The documents were from all categories- Strictly Secret of Particular Importance, Service Secret, Secret-and have not been identified evidence that these documents were returned by the members of the Commission or by Monica Macovei.
Dossiers for Macovei
In other words, Cristi Danileț and Paul Dumitriu are indicated by the members of the Commission made by Chiuariu-Predoiu as those had handed over the dossiers of SIPA regarding some magistrates to ex-Minister Monica Macovei. It is possible she hasn't returned them. Former officials of the Ministry of Justice with which we discussed during the investigation told us that these files were taken in Monica Macovei's Office where, often, was also Dan Tapalagă, current columnist at Hotnews.
At that time, Tapalagă was a political consultant for Macovei and employed at the Ministry of Justice. In this context, a former member of the Commission told us that from what he remembers, in the premises of the archive there was a high tech copier used to copy lots of documents, that there were erasures in the informative notes and annotations made by hand, most probably by judge Cristi Danileț.
The Commission Chiuariu-Predoiu did, according to the documents that I've consulted an elemental thing: sealed the copier before beginning the inventory of archives, which blatantly contradicts the advanced version so far by judge Danileț, who spoke about the fact that the documents were copied after the departure of Monica Macovei and hence theirs!
Xerox as a lie detector
Fake! In the year 2007 were copied the hard disks, folders disappeared and were copied documents from the SIPA archive. The dossiers of some judges have gone altogether! Hard drives were copied... But it is not the last bomb.
"Some files have disappeared altogether. We are talking about 12-14 files stolen from the SIPA archive, which belonged to magistrates from the Court of Appeal and the Bucharest Tribunal, which advanced on hierarchical scale up to the highest level. I remember their names, but I don't want to mention them, some of them are still in activity" said a source who participated in this survey. And because things could not have a happy ending, a new statement from the report made by Minister Catalin Predoiu blast the entire inventory approach:
Hard disks placed inside the Directorate-General for Protection and Anti-corruption were rewritten! That is, copied, without the members of the Predoiu Commission to identify any order from Minister Monica Macovei to authorize this.
Surveillance cameras installed by SRI did not work for three months
One element comes to give more weight to this conjecture: in 2007, installed surveillance cameras within the space allocated to SIPA archive have not functioned for three months! Who installed them? The famous firm RASIROM, an autonomous company of SRI, dealing with the installation of surveillance systems.
Three months they have not functioned, and RASIROM didn't intervene to fix them, although by contract the obligation was to intervene within 24 hours of reporting failure. They never made it... At the completion of the work, the Commission Ciuariu-Predoiu asked the referral of CSAT and SRI - the Office for the Supervision of State Secrets, to continue the investigation and to find missing documents. Only that, Predoiu has not taken any measures.