With Relu Fenechiu’s Transformers There Really Is More Than Meets the Eye
Political scientists agree that corruption is a given under a democratic system, especially one undergoing structural changes. But there are varied forms of overstepping boundaries and different thresholds for what constitutes a breach of public trust. Some countries hold their politicians to higher standards than others. In Sweden, Mona Sahlin, one of the most powerful politicians in the Swedish Social Democratic party had to resign after buying chocolates with her public expense credit card. In the United States, President Bill Clinton narrowly avoided impeachment for perjuring himself about an extramarital affair. In Moldova there is constant talk of “the missing billion”, the lump sum equivalent to 12% of the national GDP that has gone missing through corruption.
Romania is closer to the lower end of the accountability scale, with politicians of all political stripes almost guaranteed re-election as long as the economy works and they are “thieves that get things done.” In some quarters this attitude is so entrenched that there is a distinct category of politician that transcends even this ignoble category. That politician is generally referred to as a “Local Baron”. The Local Baron is the type of politician that is so in control of the local patronage networks and resource distribution chains that he or she — almost always he — no longer needs to “get things done”. The Local Baron treats his constituency — be it city, county or an entire region — like a fiefdom, with all the lower “nobles”, usually mayors and local officials working exclusively to his benefit. The issue of elections rarely comes up, because either the Local Baron is so entrenched in his position that elections are guaranteed to come to a satisfactory conclusion (be they fair, forced or rigged) or the concept of democracy is eschewed entirely if the baron is appointed as prefect rather than elected as county council president or mayor of a larger city.
Relu Fenechiu was one such Local Baron and his story is somewhat emblematic for a large part of the “minor nobility” or Romanian politics. Like many Romanian politicians, Fenechiu moonlighted as a businessman, managing to amass significant holdings throughout his time in office. Yet unlike many businessmen/politicians, Fenechiu focused heavily on his political career since the get-go. Fenechiu joined the National Liberal Party (PNL) in 1996 and quickly rose through its ranks, becoming vice-president of the Iasi chapter between 1998 and 2000. He became president of that chapter in 2004, serving in this capacity until his sentencing in 2014. Fenechiu was a mover and shaker at the local level, controlling a vast patronage network but it was his influence at the centre that made him the household name that he was throughout a large part of his tenure as PNL county president. After 2001, Fenechiu became a central party cadre, holding increasing sway in the PNL central committee and was able to dictate policy and even political appointments.
Fenechiu was a businessman as well as a politician and he mixed politics and business quite adeptly, becoming a major donor for PNL. But in the days before his fall, Fenechiu’s star was on the rise. Since 2000, Fenechiu had also passed the crucial political test by being elected to office as a Iași city councillor. But it was from 2004 to 2013 when he reached the apex of his power by getting elected as an MP, a position he would serve in for almost three terms. It was during his third term, and after being appointed as Minister of Transport that his legal problems started to aggravate.
As an astute businessman Fenechiu knew that the way to success in business is to buy low and sell high. So when in 2002 the opportunity arose for Fenechiu to put this mantra into practice he did it happily, by buying low cost, second-hand power transformers built in the 70s and selling them as high-cost, high-quality new ones to the state. The public auction was in such a way organized that Fenechiu’s front companies would be the only ones to qualify under its bizarre, strict terms. What’s more, fake ISO certificates were issued for the rusty transformers making them seem brand new on paper. Fenechiu also recruited some of his closest allies in this endeavour, people he would later promote aggressively during the height of his political power. Tudor Chiuariu and Cristian Adomniței, two politicians who would later find themselves ministers, allegedly thanks to Fenechiu’s support, were party to this deal, which became known as the “Transformer” scandal. According to prosecutors, this rather simple scheme caused almost €2 million in losses to the Romanian state.
In 2012, Fenechiu was officially indicted on 46 counts of corruption. After a brief trial he was convicted in 2013, causing him to resign as a minister but not as MP. After his conviction was upheld the following year, Relu Fenechiu resigned from parliament and the National Liberal Party and turned himself in to the police to serve his 5-year sentence. In 2016 he was once more indicted for receiving a massive bribe from perennial cash cow IT firm SIVECO. A third indictment came in late 2016 for a receiving a €4.3 million bribe from a private company.
But it isn’t all bad news for Relu Fenechiu. In 2016, while still in prison, Fenechiu managed to recover €300,000 euros (and €150,000 in penalities) worth of assets through court orders from his ex alma mater, the Iasi chapter of PNL. He claimed the party owed him for providing campaign materials during the 2009 election. And despite the indictments amassed against him, he was released for good behaviour in August 2017 — upon his release, Fenechiu even boisterously claimed that “one of the judges apologised to him for this obvious politically motivated conviction”. He has good reason to gloat: despite having frozen his fortune, the Romanian state managed to recover precious little from Fenechiu’s assets. They were not even able to recover the ex-MP’s BMW SUV, which is still sought by the police, or his homes, which are claimed by Fenechiu’s wife as legitimate goods that are necessary to her child’s welfare. As for Fenechiu, now free, he intends to go back to the business world, but he claims he’ll steer far away from state contracts after the “injustice” done to him. For his, and the state’s coffers’ sakes, let us hope he means it.
