Articles in the media 07.03.2005, ZIUA ......................................................................................................................1 02.09.2005, ATAC .....................................................................................................................3 02.05.2006, ZIUA ......................................................................................................................4 31.08.2006, ZIUA ......................................................................................................................7 14.05.2007, ZIUA ....................................................................................................................11 05.06.2007, ZIUA ....................................................................................................................15 18.09.2008, GARDIANUL ......................................................................................................18 07.03.2005, ZIUA Software piracy ZIUA newspaper, March 7th 2005 SC OMNIS GROUP SRL (OG), the first private company of Romania having as single object of activity the software development, began its activity in 1990. Six years later, it became the first Microsoft certified partner in our country, obtaining different prizes at professional competitions. In November 2004, OG management found that on the ROMANIAN SOFT COMPANY SRL (RSC) web site, are posted identical copies of ISIS and ISIS.NET programs, created by OG, being protected by registration at the Register of Computer Programs at the Romanian Office for Copyrights (ORDA). The thieves are ex OG employees The reproduction of the two programs under other names were possible by the employment of two OG employees, Dragos Saracu and Irinel Lupei, by ROMANIAN SOFT COMPANY, the company of Sebastian Vladescu, ex state secretary at the Ministry of Public Finances in the period 1997-2000. When they left OG, Saracu and Lupei – who had unlimited access to the source code of ISIS and ISIS.NET systems – did not leave with bare hands, steeling the two mentioned programs. Based on it, they issued the ARES.NET, CARE.NET, AMBULANTA and HIPOCRATE applications and sold them to the many customers. Of the list of clients, we mention about 20 hospitals, polyclinics and ambulance services, Townhall of Bucharest 3rd District, Porsche Romania, Toi Toi&Dixi Romania and others. PHARE funds used for robbery In the view of stopping the illicit activity of the Vladescu’s and his ex wife’s company (whom he left, in order to marry his god-daughter that he had previously married to MP Boureanu), a series of complaints and notifications were sent to Bucharest General Police Inspectorate, General Inspectorate for Communication and Information Technology, ORDA, Ministry of Administration and Interior, Ministry of National Defense, as well as to all 1 beneficiaries of the stolen software. OG management also ascertained that the “distribution of the stolen program is performed through a network of companies, controlled by Sebastian Vladescu”. It refers to SC MEDIST SA and MEDIST SRL, implied in many contracts with the state, where public money are transferred. RSC also benefited in 2002 of 50,000 Euro PHARE funds, with the objective to develop and commercialize three new software products for the administration of medical activity in hospitals, products that are based on the copied source code, respectively on the ISIS and ISIS.NET systems. This happened while RSC, created in 2000, had one employee in 2001 and two employees in 2002. A coffee chat To solve the case, OG representatives requested a meeting with the ORDA executives, meeting that took place on the date of December 8 th , last year. The expert Adrian Paunescu mentioned that, to perform a control at the headquarters of RSC, he needs a mandate from the Court of Law, but, despite all these, presented himself with bare hands and did not preserve any necessary material proofs. His visit at the headquarters of Vladescu’ company concluded with a coffee chat. Amazingly, one day before the said control, the pirated programs were deleted from RSC web site. For a while, the authorities even tried to imply that the software programs that disappeared from the site were simple, worthless work versions. At that moment, entered into the scene the Service of Frauds Investigation of Bucharest General Police Department, specifically the team composed by the commissary Luigi Sima and the sub-inspector Marian Ionita, who, unlike ORDA expert Adrian Paunescu, succeeded to collect evidences and to forward them to ORDA. Further on, ORDA had to admit on February 8 th , 2005, that the company of Vladescu copied important parts of OG computer programs. Corruption at high levels The gravity of this situation consists in the fact that the software systems, with values that are in excess of many millions of euro, have been stolen using a clever plan, designed by a high state official, with the complicity of other influent persons, and using PHARE funds. And the pirated products have been commercialized to state institutions, that paid them with public money, being today in the position in which they do not have the legal rights to use the stolen systems. Dan COSTE 2 02.09.2005, ATAC Tariceanu is associated with a businessman, accused for stealing software programs ATAC newspaper , September 2nd, 2005 The management of OMNIS GROUP points the finger to Tariceanu and draws the attention that the theft was intermediated by a company where the shareholder is the prime minister himself. An open letter signed by Serban Ghenea, general manager of OMNIS GROUP, puts prime minister Tariceanu in great difficulty. And this because the prime minister is warned that he put at the head of a ministry a man accused of robbery. The nomination of Sebastian Vladescu in the position of minister of Public Finances (MFP) generates businessmen discontent towards prime minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu, that made this choice. As surprising as that has been the appointment of Vladescu at the head of Romanian Commercial Bank (BCR) surveillance commission. This is due to the fact that Vladescu did not meet one of the essential conditions: minimum five years experience in the banking domain. Because of this reason, Vladescu had to receive dispense from the Government to occupy the relevant position. Tariceanu’s proposal should not surprise anyone, as Sebastian Vladescu is a friend and business partner of the prime minister. Curious is the fact that, although Vladescu was a media subject, being even accused of intellectual theft by the management of OMNIS GROUP, fact proved also by ORDA, the office for copyrights, as well as by the police, the prime minister Tariceanu did not take it into account, and Vladescu replaced Ionut Popescu in the MFP leadership. There are serious accusations, referring to the robbery of a software program. Is it again about the group of interests mentioned by president Basescu? Appointment of friends One of the persons who severely attacked Sebastian Vladescu is Dragos Riscanu, the leader of OMNIS GROUP company, specialized in software. In the springtime, ATAC wrote several articles on this theme. It has been talking about the fact that OMNIS accused the company of Sebastian Vladescu, Romanian Soft Company, that it stole ten years of work. “In fact, in Romania, besides Omnis, there is no IT industry. They are robbers, gathered under the umbrella of criminal organization, who live by the robbery of work of companies like the one I lead”, states Riscanu. When Riscanu found out that Vladescu was nominated minister of Finances, he has been astonished. And that is due to the fact that before Vladescu took the position of head of BCR surveillance commission, OMNIS forwarded an open letter to the prime minister, remained without any answer. In July c.y., the company returned with another letter, also without any answer. “Probably, delared to us Dragos Riscany, Mister Tariceanu is too busy appointing friends in public functions. Due to it, I returned on August 31 st , with another letter, also to the prime minister. At the government registration office I had the surprise that the employee rejected our petition, on the reason that it aims the prime minister”. The office chief had to intervene, saying that “we should receive it, because it accuses the prime minister”. 3 The prime minister, warned ! In the last open letter of Mr. Ghenea, addressed to the prime minister Tariceanu, on 07.20 th , 2005, the chief of the Executive was informed by the fact that Romanian Soft Company (RSC) stole the intellectual property of OMNIS GROUP and sold it illegally, by the company MEDIST, to budgetary state institutions. “What we find out from the media, is that you, Mr. prime minister, are associated to the company MEDIST and you initially submitted a declaration of interests that lacked the connections with this company. I found out amazed how, while we are fighting to prove the theft committed on our company by RSC through MEDIST, Sebastian Vladescu was promoted by you in state positions, higher and higher, state representative in the Administration Council of PETROM, the president of BCR Surveillance commission, and recently, you appointed him as minister of Public Finances. We come to your support to help you not to continue in error, and we consider our duty to inform you by mass media, on the onerous aspects of the activity of the named Vladescu Sebastian”. We specify that, according to data from the National Trade Registry, MEDIST’ headquarters