Former Romanian national soccer coach Victor Pitsurca, arrested by DNA and then placed under judicial review in a case involving the purchase of inappropriate masks, made his first statements on Wednesday in the investigation targeting him by prosecutors, saying “he is a big abuse “.

He claimed that the “only evidence” the prosecution has against him is that he was “for half an hour” in the office with Romarm boss Gabriel Tsutsu, who was also taken into judicial custody.

Viktor Pitsurka stated that “so much nonsense has been written that has nothing to do with reality” related to the fact that he would have given a bribe to the head of Romarm, whom he claimed he did not know and that he had only seen him once. .

• “I have nothing to do with this case, with masks, I also saw it on TV.
• I saw this man, Gabriel Tsutsu, only once, we talked about two other things on WhatsApp and that was it. The rest are assumptions unrelated to reality (…)
• Well, brothers, why don’t we let someone into the office?
• I met him together with my boy. My son and I did not sell masks. Another company took care of it,” said Victor Pitsurka, leaving the police, where he went under the conditions in which he is under judicial control.

“I am completely innocent, I have no problem with this business”

When asked if his son’s company was involved in the business of equipment and protective masks for the Ministry of Defense, Viktor Pitsurka said that his son wanted to enter the business of masks, and at some point he also wanted to meet with those who proposed this business:

• “He invested my money. The money you write that went to Alex Pitzurke’s company is 90% of my money, it was not earned money. My boyfriend wanted to do this business
• A few weeks later, I also wanted to meet the people who had offered him the job. It was the only one.
• Also, the one I went to was working with a gun company. I bought a former weapons factory in Filashy and thought that I could do business in this sense.
• I went to his office (no – Romarm head Gabriel Tsutsu). We met for the first time, stayed for half an hour, talked and left. (…)
• I have nothing to do with that factory, I know nothing. I saw this man only once. We chatted once on WhatsApp for two sentences and that was it. I don’t know anyone in this business.”

Viktor Pitsurka also said that his son’s company cooperated with a company from China, which allegedly received 40% of the profit:

• “The company my son is associated with took care of the delivery of these products while he was there in China, otherwise how would we have a business (…) that was making 40% profit.
• Products were sold by a company that could do this business, not our company.”

He denied that he had any business with the Ministry of Defense:

• “So, I’ll explain to you again what we do in this business. I borrowed money from my son to buy these products… the products that were sold by MApN – masks, gas masks, other products, I don’t know (…)
• I didn’t give any statements (to the prosecutor’s office – no), (…) I didn’t sign anything that was presented to me by the prosecutors, because I’m completely innocent, I have no problems with this business and I consider it a big, big abuse” .

“It also resulted in the fact that I would punch someone in the throat…”

Viktor Pitsurka does not believe that the investigation began with a denunciation:

• “I don’t think there was a denunciation. My name and my position have given birth, you see, for several days in a row a lot of untruths are heard in this matter, and I think that is all.
• On the other hand, what should we do, even if in Romania you can’t talk to the person that you are subjected to such abuse?
• You will find out, maybe you think that I am not telling you the whole truth, but from the documents you will find out that it is so. It’s true.
• If there was something specific, what did they do to me? I guess I can’t imagine.
• Another thing followed from this was that I would punch someone in the throat… Gentlemen, be calm, Viktor Pitsurka would never do that. Never. (…)
• And if I had done something, I would have said it. But for me to be reproached for going to my husband’s office to meet him and for what I bought… this seems unacceptable to me.”

It will be recalled that Viktor Pitsurka was detained by the DNA on Monday for buying influence, and Romarm director Gabriel Tsutsu was detained for abuse of office, influence trading and intellectual forgery. Pitsurke was later placed under judicial control. Aleksandra Pitsurka was also detained in this case on Tuesday.

DNA requested the preventive arrest of Alexander Pitsurke and the head of Romarm, but the judge of the Bucharest Court rejected this request and decided to place them under judicial control.

DNA indictment in the case of Victor Pitsurke and the head of Romarm

• “1. Against the background of the pandemic caused by COVID-19, in the period from March 19, 2020 to September 16, 2021, Gabriel Tsutsu, performing the above-mentioned position, in violation of the provisions of the law, allegedly joined the association of companies, in which he was a part and the company, controlled by another person investigated in this case (Viktor Pitsurka – no), under unfavorable conditions for the company he managed, two public procurement contracts (which related to the purchase of seven inappropriate machines for the production of protective masks).
• As a result of the actions mentioned above, CN Romarm SA suffered damages in the amount of 8,647,584 lei, which is the value of the above mentioned machines, the value of raw materials and subsequently the value of some related parts and services (outside the contract).
• 2. In a similar context, during the period 19.03.2020 – 10.04.2020, Gabriel Tsutsu claimed, among other things, from representatives of the companies involved in the above-mentioned purchases, the introduction into the commercial scheme of delivery of incompatible protective masks for the Ministry of National Defense (MApN) of his second, without him carrying out a real commercial activity additional to the contract for the supply of protective equipment and making payments to him (40% of the received profit share) under the guise of a consulting contract.
• In exchange for these “favors”, Tsutsu would allow himself to be believed to have influence over officials in the M.Ap.N. and that this will result in them trusting supply contracts directly and without public procedures, and making smooth receipt of relevant products and timely payment of related invoices.
• In the context mentioned above, Gabriel Tsutsu would have received the sum of 50,000 lei through an intermediary.”

DNA accusations in the case of Alexander Pitsurke:

• “Amidst the pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus, between 19.03.2020 and 10.04.2020, the businessman would directly accept the conditions put forward by the defendant Tsutsu Gabriel (described in the previous statement) in exchange for which the latter would allow himself to believe that he has influence on some officials in M.Ap.N. and that this would result in them directly and without public procedures entrusting contracts for the supply of protective equipment against the coronavirus to an association of which the company managed by the defendant was also a part.
• In addition, defendant Tsutsu Gabriel also allegedly promised that he would force the same officials to accept the products in question, even if they did not meet the requirements, and to pay the invoices on time.
• As I stated earlier, in the context mentioned above, the defendant Tsutsu Gabriel would have received through an intermediary the sum of 50,000 lei, representing the price of influence peddling.

What prosecutors say about everyone’s contribution to the face mask business

In the arrest warrant issued Tuesday afternoon on behalf of Alexandru Pitsurke, prosecutors describe the contribution of each of the suspects to the business that caused losses to Romanian authorities, News.ro reports.

Thus, initially, coach Viktor Pitsurka would finance the operation – paying suppliers, transporting goods, legal advice and other services related to the importation of goods into Romania, according to DNA documents.

The son of the former football player, Alexandru Victor Pitsurka, would act as an intermediary, an intermediary in the connection between the real financier, his father, inserting SC PAV GREEN ENERGY SRL, of which he was the only partner.

The dossier includes other people who were involved in logistics, relations with the supplier and who would have helped the head of Romarm to receive the bribe.

Prosecutors claim that Romarm head Gabriel Tsutsu organized the entire commercial operation, being the one who identified the client – the Ministry of Defense, provided the air transport and communication channel between the client – supplier – financier, as well as the import of goods from China through SC INTERARMS IMPEX SRL, also writes News.ro.

The case of the inappropriate masks, in which the selector Victor Pitsurke, his son Alexandra Victorio and Romarm CEO Gabriel Tsutsa are being investigated, started back in the summer of 2020, initially registered with the military prosecutor’s office. next to the Bucharest Court. During the investigation, other files were extracted from him, according to DNA prosecutors’ documents.

In February 2022, Libertatea wrote that PAV Green Energy, the company of Alexandru Pitsurke, the son of the former coach of the national team, was allegedly involved in the business of inappropriate masks.

The Ministry of Defense would award the contract to Helios Dentserv, but 98% of the money would go to PAV Green Energy, Pitzurke Jr.’s company. Thus, 100,000 FFP3 masks from this contract would have been distributed to the sanitary units of the MApN, and four months later they were found to be non-compliant. MApN sued Helios Dentserv, demanding a refund, but the parties later settled, writes Libertatea. One mask cost 28.69 lei. According to HotNews.ro, twice compared to the price received by Oradea City Hall on the same date.

Romarm is a state-owned defense industry company. In May 2020, HotNews.ro wrote that the then government led by Ludovic Orbán thought it would be good to expand its scope of activity by producing protective masks in order to stop relying on imports from China.

In April 2020, the Government announced that Romarm had started production of masks. But all this lasted very little, because the production equipment broke down in the very first days. Additionally, this $1 million worth of equipment was imported from China.

At the end of April, Economy Minister Virgil Popescu announced that Romarm had started production, so Prime Minister Ludovic Orbán visited the factory on April 29. It was also the day the production line went live. Immediately after the visit, it broke down.

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