Authorities in Romania have arrested a former senator for allegedly attempting to offer a 1 million-euro ($1.16 million) bribe to the country’s defense minister to facilitate an arms deal that could be fraudulently financed by a European Union program.
The deal in question was convoluted: to purchase Russian-type shells in Kazakhstan, import them to Romania, refurbish and relabel them as Romanian shells, then sell them on to Ukraine via an intermediary in Bulgaria.
The idea was to create a scheme for future business that might obtain funds from the EU’s Rearm Europe program, launched in March to support weapons manufacturing in the 27-nation bloc. The Russian-type shells are widely used in Ukraine but not produced in EU countries.
RFE/RL’s Romanian Service has spoken to two key figures in the case.
One described being approached by former Senator Marius Ovidiu Isaila, another by a Bulgarian businessman called Roman Ivanov Angelov.
In early October, Angelov allegedly led a delegation that approached the head of Romtehnica, an arms trading company that represents the Romanian Defense Ministry, seeking to make use of its contacts in Kazakhstan.
A 'Suspicious' Offer
"They proposed a deal to me,” Romtehnica chief Razvan Mincu told RFE/RL. “We would take ammunition from Kazakhstan and resell it to them.”
But Mincu said the offer looked “suspicious” and that he rejected the proposals.
According to a report by Romanian prosecutors, Isaila approached an intermediary to try to bribe Defense Minister Ionut Mosteanu to facilitate the deal.
RFE/RL has spoken to the intermediary, politician Octavian Berceanu, who turned whistleblower and made 17 undercover recordings for law enforcement of his meetings with Isaila.
"This is about a group that wants to bring Russian or Russian-type ammunition to Romania, which it can then export to Bulgaria and from there to Ukraine. All (purchased) with European Union money," he said.
"They offered me 10 million euros ($11.57 million) to be part of this group. That's the method, they offer impressive sums to politicians to co-opt them."
Isaila’s statements in transcripts of recordings made by Berceanu, published on November 10 by Romanian website Gandul, suggest he was working with others – often referring to “us” and hinting at large amounts of money and political influence.
At one point, he is quoted as saying: “I am the one opening the door! And I open the door for you: NATO, US Embassy, Germany.”
In another exchange, he is quoted as telling Berceanu: "Tell me how much you need, and in the evening...in 24 hours, you have all the money.”
Isaila is also quoted describing how the scheme will work. “We buy [shells] from Kazakhstan, we disassemble them ourselves, we bring them disassembled here…reassemble them, paint them, arrange them, and the Romanian state sells them.”
'Billionaires Overnight'
In the transcripts, Isaila also suggests that a similar scheme was already carried out in Albania, making those involved “billionaires overnight.” The Albanian Defense Ministry and anti-corruption authority did not respond immediately to RFE/RL inquiries.
Defense Minister Mosteanu posted on social media that “a person tried to buy my influence with one million euros to facilitate a contract with Romtehnica. I categorically refused any meeting with that person.”
While Isaila has been placed in detention for 30 days, Bulgarian businessman Roman Angelov’s whereabouts are unknown. Angelov is the sole shareholder of a company called Sofia Arm Tech, that received a license for international arms trading last year.
Prior to that, the company did not list any activity in documents it submitted to Bulgaria’s commercial register after being established in 2020. Listings show it has eight employees.
There was no response from Angelov or the company to questions from RFE/RL’s Bulgarian Service.
