What the newspapers say: April 16, 2009

The scandal shaking the Romanian football industry took off from another investigation, one newspaper reads on Thursday. In politics, the government’s anti-crisis measures trigger divergent policies. A week after anti-Communist protests in Chisinau, the atrocities are revealed, one by one: today, Andrei Ivantoc talks about the violence against the peaceful protesters.

Cotidianul reads that the scandal shaking the Romanian football industry took off from another investigation, unrelated to football. Namely, anti-graft prosecutors were investigating PIC’s supermarket manager, suspected of offering bribe to the Consumer’s Protection Agency.

Liviu Ilie Facaleata, manager of PIC SA, a supermarket in Pitesti, South Romania, owned by Cornel Penescu owner of FC Arges football club was investigated for bribing with 4,000 euro ex-chief inspector of Consumer’s Protection in Arges, Dan Libertatu.

However, during the investigation, Facaleata’s phone was taped and his phone calls revealed that he was also bribing some League 1 referees on behalf of Penescu in order to favor FC Arges. It turned out that Facaleata was the one to contact the referees and offer them the money instead of their favorable attitude towards FC Arges.

They would bribe the referees after the games and never before and the value of the bribe was somewhere between 5 to 15 thousand euro and was established depending on the referee’s behavior during the match.

Moreover, Facaleata would offer in the same way, various sums to Gheorghe Constantin, ex head of the Central Commission of Referees so that he would delegate those referees favored by Penescu.

In politics, the government’s anti-crisis measures are contradictory: the holiday tickets recently approved by the government, at the proposal of Tourism minister Elena Udrea will take up 2 billion Lei for one year from the budget while the introduction of the lump sum tax, meant to increase budget revenues, will only be able to cover these costs in four years time, Gandul reads.

Romania’s Finance ministry announced that the government will cash in from the lump tax some 350 million Lei this year. The newspaper reads that, if revenues will be maintained at the same rate, the lump sum tax will barely cover for the costs of the holiday tickets in four years.

However, the paper reads, these sums apaperre not certain and thus the tickets can either cost even more or the lump sum tax can cash in even a smaller amount. Some analysts quoted by the paper declared that if the Tourism ministry would still be part of the Commerce ministry than the lump tax would have been postponed at least for one year.

Evenimentul Zilei reveals other victims of the violence against the peaceful protesters in Moldova on April 7/8: today the paper reads about Andrei Ivantoc, one of the four members of the Ilascu group who was violently beaten while protesting against the communists.

Ivantoc was arrested together with another three people in 1992 for fighting against the separation of Transniester from the Republic of Moldova. He was condemned in 1993 by the separatist regime of Ignor Smirnov to 15 years of prison.

Ivantoc was set free in 2007 and was decorated by Romania’s President with the Romanian Star National Order as Knight. Ivantoc speaks up about the events in the main square in Chisinau when, together with his wife, he was peacefully protesting.

He declared that he was severely beaten and was immediately transported to the hospital. He declared that he refused to be hospitalized in the first place and left for the square once again, in an attempt to help the protesters. However, he soon returned to the hospital in a severe condition, unable to walk anymore.