Parliamentary committee controlling activity of SRI adopts report on Maior's politically-driven use of SRI, ANI

The parliamentary committee controlling the activity of the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) has adopted a report on the cooperation between the SRI-ANI (the National Integrity Agency, ed.n.), which found that the relationship between the two institutions was "illegal" between 2012-2015 said the head of the committee, Social Democratic party (PSD) Senator Claudiu Manda.

He stated that SRI had sent to ANI 71 notes aimed at a total of 600 persons, including ministers, MEPs, deputies, senators, mayors, presidents of county councils, prefects, ministry councilors, directors of decentralized departments, City Hall secretaries.

"The report is called 'Report on the Use of the Romanian Intelligence Service and the National Integrity Agency by Mr. George Maior for Political Purposes.' It contains some chapters I want to refer to, the first describing the functioning mechanism between SRI and ANI that is, in the opinion of the committee, an illegal one and I will explain briefly. The law establishing the SRI is from 1991, the Law on the establishment of ANI is from 2007. In 2007 it is written that ANI can become aware ex officio or on the basis of a complaint, it is not written anywhere that it should be informed by a secret, internal, foreign, military service, etc. It is certain that this relationship began to function after Mr. Horia Georgescu became president of the ANI. Another surprising fact is that all the documents that left SRI left or went through the Legal Department for a legal visa, all the documents or all the notes that left SRI to ANI, none went through any of the Legal Directorate, although they referred to the articles of law infringed or likely to be violated by those who were the subject of the referrals," Claudiu Manda told a press conference on Tuesday at the end of the sitting of the parliamentary committee controlling the activity of the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI).

The PSD senator added that during the period under review (...) "between 2012 and 2015, 71 notes, secret notes, special notes or simple notes covering a total of 600 people were sent".

"And there is a kind of parallel report. The USR [Save Romania Union, ed.n.] deputy has his own report, he notified us to introduce it as an annex to the committee's report, we will present to the Permanent Bureau this parallel report," Manda added.