The Microsoft licensing corruption scandal was a political scandal and criminal investigation in Romania, involving large bribes paid to

Romanian government , image = , caption=Logo of the Government of Romania , date = 1862 , state = Romania , address = Victoria PalaceBucharest , appointed = President , leader_title = Prime Minister , mai ...

members in exchange for approving increases in license fees for

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

products. It was called the 'biggest ever' Romanian corruption case. However, most of the charges were dropped in 2018 as the

statute of limitations A statute of limitations, known in civil law systems as a prescriptive period, is a law passed by a legislative body to set the maximum time after an event within which legal proceedings may be initiated. ("Time for commencing proceedings") In m ...

had expired (the charges were brought in 2015 and first contract signed in 2004). Nine government ministers have been charged by the

National Anticorruption Directorate The National Anticorruption Directorate ( ro, Direcția Națională Anticorupție (DNA)), formerly National Anticorruption Prosecution Office ( ro, Parchetul Național Anticorupție), is the Romanian agency tasked with preventing, investigating ...

Comunicat Nr. 1342/VIII/3
26 September 2014 belonging to the Năstase, Tăriceanu and

Boc Cabinets Boc I The Boc Cabinet was a coalition cabinet between the largest parliamentary parties, PD-L and the PSD. After the breakup of the legislative coalition, it was known as ”the first Boc Cabinet.” Despite the ambitious governing program, ...

. The bribes were estimated at more than $50 million. Apart from Microsoft, this scandal involved several major multinational corporations, including

Fujitsu-Siemens Fujitsu Siemens Computers GmbH was a Japanese and German vendor of information technology. The company was founded in 1999 as a 50/50 joint venture between Fujitsu Limited of Japan and Siemens of Germany. On April 1, 2009, the company became Fuji ...

, IBM,

Compaq Compaq Computer Corporation (sometimes abbreviated to CQ prior to a 2007 rebranding) was an American information technology company founded in 1982 that developed, sold, and supported computers and related products and services. Compaq produced ...

Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...

, S&T and local software companies like SIVECO and Softwin.

Persons involved in scandal

According to

Gheorghe Ștefan Gheorghe Ștefan (István Görgicze, seldom referred to as ''Burduja''; died 1668 in Szczecin) was Voivode (Prince) of Moldavia between 13 April and 8 May 1653, and again from 16 July 1653 to 13 March 1658; he was the son of boyar Dumitrașcu C ...

(a.k.a. "Pinalti"), more than 100 persons are involved in the corruption scandal, among them nine former ministers and prominent businessmen. *

Elena Udrea Elena Gabriela Udrea (; born 26 December 1973) is a Romanian politician. An independent who held office while in the Democratic Liberal Party (PDL) and then the People's Movement Party (PMP), she was a member of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies ...

, President of the

People's Movement Party The People's Movement Party ( ro, Partidul Mișcarea Populară, PMP) is a minor extra-parliamentary nominally centre-right Christian democratic, national-conservative political party in Romania. History The PMP was created as a political founda ...

(2014–15) and Minister of Tourism (2008–12) *

Adriean Videanu Adriean Marian Videanu (; born 1 June 1962) is a businessman and former mayor of Bucharest, Romania. He is also a vice president of the Democratic Liberal Party of Romania, which was led by Emil Boc and the Minister of Economy in the Boc Cabinet ...

, Minister of Economy (2008–10) and Mayor of

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

(2005–08) *

Ecaterina Andronescu Ecaterina Andronescu (; born 7 April 1948) is a Romanian engineer, professor, and politician. A member of the Social Democratic Party (Romania), Social Democratic Party (PSD), she sat in the Chamber of Deputies (Romania), Romanian Chamber of Dep ...

, Minister of Education (2000–03, 2008–09, 2012) * , former Minister of Communications * , PSD senator *

Dan Nica Dan Nica (born July 2, 1960) is a Romanian engineer and politician. A member of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), he has been a Member of the European Parliament since 2014. He held a seat in the Romanian Chamber of Deputies for Galați County f ...

, Minister of Communications (2000–04, 2012) and Minister of the Interior (2009) * Adriana Țicău, PSD MEP * Gabriel Sandu, Minister of Communications (2008–10) * Daniel Funeriu, Minister of Education (2009–12) *

Alexandru Athanasiu Alexandru Athanasiu (; born 1 January 1955) is a Romanian politician and jurist. A former leader of the Romanian Social Democratic Party (PSDR), he has been a member of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) since 2001. Athanasiu previously served ...

, PSD MEP and Acting

Prime Minister of Romania The prime minister of Romania ( ro, Prim-ministrul României), officially the prime minister of the Government of Romania ( ro, Prim-ministrul Guvernului României, link=no), is the head of the Government of Romania. Initially, the office was s ...

(1999) * Mihai Tănăsescu, Member of the

Trilateral Commission The Trilateral Commission is a nongovernmental international organization aimed at fostering closer cooperation between Japan, Western Europe and North America. It was founded in July 1973 principally by American banker and philanthropist David ...

* , businessman and former spouse of Elena Udrea *

, former Mayor of

Piatra Neamț Piatra Neamț (; german: Kreuzburg an der Bistrița (Siret), Bistritz; hu, Karácsonkő) is the capital city of Neamț County, in the historical region of Western Moldavia, in northeastern Romania. Because of its privileged location in the Easter ...

* Dumitru Nicolae, businessman

Sentences

On 24 March 2016, Dorin Cocoș was sentenced to 2 years imprisonment for influence peddling and money laundering, and to an

asset forfeiture Asset forfeiture or asset seizure is a form of confiscation of assets by the authorities. In the United States, it is a type of criminal-justice financial obligation. It typically applies to the alleged proceeds or instruments of crime. This ap ...

of €3 million. Gabriel Sandu was sentenced to 2 years imprisonment for bribery and money laundering, and to an asset forfeiture of over €2 million. Gheorghe Ștefan was sentenced to 3 years imprisonment for influence peddling and to an asset forfeiture of €3 million. Dumitru Nicolae was convicted to 1 and a half years

suspended sentence A suspended sentence is a sentence on conviction for a criminal offence, the serving of which the court orders to be deferred in order to allow the defendant to perform a period of probation. If the defendant does not break the law during that ...

, €1 million forfeiture and 90 days community service. The sentences are not final and can be appealed. On 3 October 2016, Dorin Cocoș was sentenced to 2 years 4 months imprisonment for influence peddling and money laundering, and to an

of €9 million. Gabriel Sandu was sentenced to 3 years imprisonment for bribery and money laundering, and to an asset forfeiture of over €2 million. Gheorghe Ștefan was sentenced to 6 years imprisonment for influence peddling and to an asset forfeiture of over €3 million. Nicolae Dumitru was convicted to 2 years 4 months imprisonment, $2,050,000 and €1 million forfeiture. These sentences are final.

References

{{reflist 2014 in Romania Corruption in Romania Political scandals in Romania

Persons involved in scandal

Sentences

See also

References