ANAF recovers RON 19.5 mln in Microsoft corruption case after selling 13 flats

The National Agency of Fiscal Administration (ANAF) announced this Monday that it recovered RON 19.5 million from the Microsoft case until now, after selling 13 apartments of convicts, through three tenders.

“The apartments are commercial spaces in Bucharest rated at lower values than the prices established by assessors. The amount recovered until now for the state budget comes mainly from the seizing of bank accounts, seizing of the due amounts of the third parties and the valuation of the taken properties,” says the ANAF release.

The inspectors of the repo structure special cases within ANAF will continue the procedures of social parts valuation of the firms where the convicts are associates and the fields and properties owned by them, via public tenders, according to ANAF.

In October 2016, the Supreme Court increased the punishments of the four defendants in the Microsoft case and seized from them approximately EUR 16 million and over USD 2 million.

The former Gheorghe Stefan got the biggest sentence, of six years in prison, up from three years, former minister Gabriel Sandu was convicted to three years, Dorin Cocos received a two years and four months sentence, as well as Nicolae Dumitru, who was convicted to one year and six months of prison with suspension.

The prosecution in the Microsoft case started on 24 March 2015 and closed on October 2016, and investigated the manner in which the Microsoft licenses were attributed for ten years.

According to the prosecutors, Cocos asked an received EUR 9 million from Claudiu Florica and Dinu Patriciu to ensure the firms supported by Florica and the development of Microsoft license contract with the Communications minister through Elena Udrea, the former minister of Regional Development and vice-president of Liberal Democratic Party (PDL).