The CEO of Oracle Romania, Sorin Mindrutescu, was brought to the National Anti-Corruption Agency (DNA) on Wednesday evening after agents searched the Oracle offices for evidence related to a bribery investigation.
UPDATE: The DNA has released an official statement confirming that Oracle Romania CEO Sorin Mindrutescu is under investigation for bribery.
Prosecutors say that Mindrutescu received EUR 869,000 in bribes in eight different instances between September 2009 and November 2013. The Oracle head is alleged to have demanded bribes from representatives of several partner IT firms in exchange for favourable price offers for products sold by Oracle’s Romanian subsidiary, so that those firms could sign up and take part in public auctions held by various state institutions or state-owned companies, including the National Trade Registry Office (ONRC), the fiscal agency (ANAF), Transelectrica, the National Health Insurance House (CNAS) and the Romanian Air Traffic Services Administration (ROMATSA).
Sorin Mindrutescu has been placed under judcial supervision with a bond of EUR 500,000 which must be paid or guaranteed through assets by Friday, August 9.
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Mindrutescu is suspected to have demanded bribes in order to assign contracts to other companies, in a rare DNA case targeting solely private companies for corruption, according to press reports.
The Oracle CEO was questioned for several hours, and left the DNA near midnight on Wednesday, stating: “The only thing I want to say is that Oracle is not part of this case. Based on the information we have, we believe this is all an unfortunate misunderstanding. Together with our lawyers we will try to bring evidence to try to resolve this misunderstanding.” He did not provide an answer when asked whether he had been accused of any wrongdoing.
Sorin Mindrutescu has been heading Oracle Romania since 2008. The company has about 5,000 employees and is one of the biggest IT companies in the country.