Dan Voiculescu

Dan Voiculescu
Senator of Bucharest, Vicepresident of Romania's Senate
Incumbent
Assumed office December, 2008
Personal details
Born	September 25, 1946 (1946-09-25) (age 65)
Political party	Conservative Party (Romania)
Children	Camelia Voiculescu Corina Voiculescu
Website	Dan Voiculescu official site

Dan Voiculescu (n. 25 septembrie 1946) is a Romanian politician and former business man. He is the Vicepresident of the Romanian Senate and founding president of the Conservative Party in Romania. (ex Romanian Humanist Party).

Dan Voiculescu: “Personally, I divide my active life in 4 stages of work, each of them of approximately 10 years. In the first decade, in the 70’s, I worked for the state. Then, a same period of time, through the 80's , I worked for a boss. In the third decade, the 90's, I built my own business and became my own master. In the fourth stage, after the 2000's, I gave up managing my business and entered in the service of the people, through politics.”

Political activity

DV

In 1991, Voiculescu founded the Humanist Party of Romania, which changed its name to the Conservative Party (PC) in May 2005. Under Voiculescu's leadership, the party also markedly changed its doctrine to embrace conservative values in line with the views of the European People's Party in the European Parliament.^[1] The CP, however, did not join the European People's Party.

Dan Voiculescu held the executive presidency of the party between 1991 and 2005. At present, starting December 2008, Dan Voiculescu is senator of the 8th Electoral Body in Bucharest, the capital city of Romania, and Vicepresident of the Romanian Senate. He is also member of the Economics, Industry & Services Permanent Comission and president of the friendship parliamentary group with the Republic of Austria. Previously, he served as senator between 2004 and 2007, but he resigned from the Parliament due to lack of support for the projects promoted by the Conservative Party. The projects referred to the extension of the tenants contracts from the nationalized buildings, the VAT reduction for alimentary products, the solidarity fund for pensioners and tax removal on the reinvested profit, legislation designed to bring more money to pensioners with low incomes, to lower prices on basic food or assist companies to reinvest their profits.^[2].

As member of the Romanian Senate, Voiculescu has been strong in his opposition to Romanian President Traian Băsescu, who he states has exceeded constitutional boundaries and abused power.^[3]

In April 2007, the Parliamentary Commission led by senator Dan Voiculescu, has managed, for the first time in the post-revolutionary Romania, the suspension of an acting president. The report drawn up by the "Voiculescu Commission" was adopted in the Romanian Parliament, with 322 votes "for" an 108 "against", president Traian Băsescu being suspended from his function.^[4] However, at the national referendum that followed, Traian Basescu was reconfirmed in the president function.

Laws initiated by Dan Voiculescu.^[5]

Voiculescu’s Law : Voiculescu initiated a bill, named after him, that allows tenants of building that were nationalized during communism to stay in them, while the former owners receive only financial compensation. After a long legislative and constitutional battle, president Băsescu signed the law in 2009, even though he and his party oppose it. Emil Boc's government however did not apply it, and was sued by tenants' associations.^[6]

The legislative proposal regarding the restitution of the trade-unions patrimony – a measure that will guarantee the independence of the trade-unions given the political pressures. Romania is the only state of the former communist block that has not adopted this measure yet.

The legislative proposal regarding the establishment of the national solidarity fund – the economic entities having a turnover greater than 1 milion Euros should pay a tax of 1% of their annual profit towards a fund meant to supplement the pensions lower that the minimum wage.

The legislative proposal regarding the compensation of VAT between the state and the traders – a measure through which bureaucracy and tax evasion are diminished and blockages determined by the delay of reimbursement of VAT are eliminated.

The legislative proposal on exemption of micro-companies from income tax in the first 3 years of their establishment – this will encourage private initiative and expenditures for social protection will be reducted.

The legislative proposal regarding the assurance of home attendance for the elderly people – measure designed for those old persons that can not take care of themselves and have nobody to rely on.

The legislative proposal regarding the growth of the 1st degree disabled pensions – the beneficiaries of this law, because of their severe disabilities, can not engage in any activity that could supplement their incomes.

The initiative proposal regarding the mortgage for the property investment – the initiative aims to protect those persons that have acquired a bank loan from the unjustified and unannounced changes in the interest rate.

The legislative proposal regarding the lowering of the VAT at 5% for the basic alimentary products: bread, meat, milk, oil, sugar.

The legislative proposal for supporting the birth rate growth – the project targets the granting of fiscal facilities (exemption from the payment of the wage tax, mortgage with interest fully subsidized) for the parents that have at least 3 children.

Professional activity

DV2

• 1996-2004, 2007-2008: Ph.D. Professor at the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest, Faculty of International Relations, “Competition and Competitiveness” course.

• 1992-2001: Founder and shareholder of GRIVCO Group. The parent company is Grivco S.A. and its main activities include foreign trade with industrial materials, energy trade and agriculture. Around Grivco S.A. has formed over time the Grivco holding, structured into 3 divisions: trade, media, industry&services.

• 1982-1992: Manager of the Bucharest headquarters and coordinator of the international projects at Crescent Commercial& Maritime Ltd. Cyprus

• 1970-1982: Chief of the foreign trade department at VITROCIM

Dan Voiculescu, Ph.D., Professor

Dan Voiculescu is a Ph.D. professor. He taught the “Competition and Competitiveness” course for 7 years at the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest, within the Faculty of International Relations. Starting with 2003 he suspended his courses as a protest against the ease of granting the Ph.D. title to persons with a questionable character or professionalism.

GRIVCO

Dan Voiculescu: “Working in foreign trade, from my 7 dolars/day subsistence, I managed along 21 years to save approximately 30.000 dolars. With this money I founded the GRIVCO group." The group had at start as main activity foreign trade. Very rapidly, Dan Voiculescu engages into media and launches a newspaper and the first commercial TV station in Romania, Antenna 1. “I am not making a secret out of the fact that the equipments were second-hand, the first typography as well, so I hadn’t started in a classical manner: a business-plan, a financing, the silly things spoken by some, tens of millions….” remembers Dan Voiculescu. Over time, the profits were reinvested and this was the base for the most powerful media trust with Romanian capital - Intact, part of the Grivco holding.

“People are always interested when someone succeeds in life how that certain somebody made the first million. As for me, the first million was reached in 1996, from approximately 400.000 dividends at Grivco and about 600.000 dividends from Antenna 1”.

In 2001, Dan Voiculescu retired from his businesses. “I retired myself being a delighted parent on how my 2 daughters, Camelia and Corina, handle the business”, says Dan Voiculescu.

GRIVCO divisions:

Trade

• GLOBAL TRANSACTIONS LTD.: foreign trade with industrial merchandise: chemical products, oil products, construction materials, metals.
• GOVCREST INTERNATIONAL: foreign trade with industrial products, especially inorganic chemicals, soda ash.
• OMINVEST: consumer goods industry, imports especially fish cans, seafood, fruits, which are distributed in hypermarkets.
• DIRECT HOME DELIVERY: distribution company of products purchased online.

Media

• TV stations: Antena 1, Antena 2, Antena 3, Antena International, Euforia TV, GSP TV
• Newspapers: Jurnalul National, Saptamana Financiara, Financiarul, Gazeta Sporturilor, Ghimpele
• Magazines: Top Gear, Felicia, Confidential, Cultura, GoodFood, GoodHomes
• Radios: Radio ZU, Romantic FM
• Business: Intact typography, Intact Production, Open Media Network, Clir Media, Intact Advertising, Intact Interactive, Seed Consultants
• foundations: “Mereu Aproape” Foundation: as a charity organizer, the foundation represents the corporate social responsibility of the Intact Media Group.

Industry&Services

• Air Total Romania: airplane fuel distribution in airports in Romania
• Rombell Securities: brokerage company
• Millenium Insurance Broker: insurance brokerage services
• Eco - Green Com: waste management company
• Sanlacta: milk processing factory, includes the production and distribution of dairy.
• Applied research and investment company: property management company
• ICA R&D: research in the alimentary field and environmental protection field.
• Benefica: consulting services, development of Green-field projects for the Grivco group.
• Vip Air: aviation company, charter services for business and rest.

Published works

• 2010 -"Romanian values dynasty", “Tipografia Intact” Publishing, Bucharest
• 2007 -"Competitiveness of enterprises and nations”, Intact Publishing, Bucharest
• 2004 -"The Humanist Society", Intact Publishing, Bucharest
• 2002 -"Competition and Competitiveness. Applications.", Economics Publishing, Bucharest
• 2001 -" Competition and Competitiveness ", Economics Publishing, Bucharest
• 2000: Romanian Academy award for "Analysis of Competitiveness of the Romanian economy, Horizon 2000-2005-2010. Strategic alternative solutions” – Romanian Academy Publishing
• 2000 -"Competitiveness. Course Notes", Economics Publishing, Bucharest
• 1999 -"Battle with ourselves, Romania 1989-1999", co-author, Economics Publishing, Bucharest
• 1999 -"Foreign trade of Romania in the late 20th century", Intact Publishing, Bucharest
• 1999 -"International trade and contemporary trade policies", co-author, Economics Publishing, Bucharest
• 1998 -" Analysis of Competitiveness of the Romanian economy, Horizon 2000-2005-2010. Strategic alternative solutions ", co-author, Romanian Academy Publishing
• 1997 -"International Trade transactions", co-author, Economics Publishing
• 1996 -"Business Praxology", Intact Publishing, Bucharest
• 1994 -"Franchising - Practical guide of the business man”, Intact Publishing, Bucharest
• 1993 -"Economy and Humanism", Intact Publishing, Bucharest
• 1991 -"The Negotiation – form of interpersonal communication", Scientific and Encyclopedic Publishing, Bucharest
• 1990 -"From world experience regarding the privatization of state enterprises”, Technical Publishing, Bucharest
• 1990 -" A Deontology of Industrialization and World Trade", Eyeplus Publications, London
• 1989 - "Leadership, service and efficiency of international trade”, co-author , Scientific and Encyclopedic Publishing, Bucharest
• 1988 -"Industrialization and World Trade", Scientific and Encyclopedic Publishing, Bucharest
• 1985 -"Leasing" - co-author, Scientific and Encyclopedic Publishing, Bucharest

Studies

DV5

• 2006: Political Communication Masters Degree, Kingston University, London
• 1977: Ph.D. in Economics, Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest
• 1969 – 1974: Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Foreign Trade Faculty
• Foreign languages: English, German, French.

Social activity

DV3

• Founding president of “Dan Voiculescu” Foundation for Romania’s Development
• Initiator and founder of the Conservative Institute of Political Studies
• Founder and honorary president of the "Business-men Association in Romania"
• Honorary member of the Romanian National Chamber within the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania
• Honorary member of the Romanian Cultural Foundation

“Dan Voiculescu” foundation for Romania’s development

The foundation was established in 1990, with the mission to support, promote and encourage authentic Romanian values from various areas: economy, science and technique, education, culture, art. Among the programs of the foundation:

• “Dan Voiculescu” club of excelence: designed for children in the purpose of developing abilities and talents in various domains, through personalized preparation programs and courses. Established in 2007, the club has courses such as music, informatics, dramatic arts, painting, foreign languages.

• The Scholarship Program : for children and young people with special results. The goal of the program is to sustain excellence among the young generation.

• ”Dan Voiculescu” awards: offered annually to the Romanian/Romanians with the highest contribution in changing Romania for the better.

• Traditions fair: annually, true masters from all over the country present crafts, customs and traditions. All in the purpose of promoting and conserving the Romanian legacies.

• ”The joy of being your own master”: supports the entrepreneurial spirit among young people.

• Internships: the first national internship fair that first introduced for Romania the concept StudentCV. The participant companies offered training courses through which young applicants could gather professional experience necessary for their integration in the labor market. The project was hosted by the portal www.studentcv.ro.

• Values Garden: it is a parc that celebrates the national history, which hosts 76 stone figures of significant Romanian personalities, from Burebista to Carol I, from Mihai Eminescu to Nichita Stanescu.

Personals

DV4

According to the autobiography published on the official website, Dan Voiculescu was born in a modest family, his father being a plumber and his mother a housewife. He grew up in the Bucharest neighborhood of Bariera Vergului, near the 23 August skating rink, where he practiced ice hockey. In 1969 he fulfilled the military service in a military unit in Focsani. His wife was Zsófia Égető, of Hungarian ethnicity, born from parents originating from the Covasna county that moved to Bucharest in the early 1940. Égető Zsófia was born in 1948 and attended the courses of the Academy of Economic Studies, where Dan Voiculescu was also a student. In the early 2000s, after 30 years of matrimony, Dan Voiculescu became a widower. He has 2 daughters, Camelia and Corina, and 4 grandchildren: Dan Guenther, Mara, Evelyn and Danut. At present, he is engaged in a stable relationship with Liana Voiculescu.

Controversies

Secret police involvement

Romania's National Council for the Study of the Secret Police Archives (CNSAS) revealed that Dan Voiculescu acted as an informer for the Secret Police of the Nicolae Ceausescu regime by the names of "Felix" and "Mircea".^{[7] [8]} Voiculescu denies, however, having been an official collaborator (with a signed agreement) or an officer of the Secret Police and is appealing the CNSAS' ruling to that effect. He blamed the initial findings against him on president Traian Băsescu, who, according to Voiculescu, launched a campaign to undermine him. ^[9] Tom Gallagher wrote in a 2004 paper ^[10] that it is supposed that Dan Voiculescu held the rank of General within the intelligence service before Romania's 1989 anti-communist revolution, but nothing has been proved till now. Ziua newspaper commented however that if Voiculescu was a "covert general" this fact would be extremely hard to prove; official records show that Voiculescu was a reserve army sub-lieutenant.

Dan Voiculescu disputed CNSAS’s verdict by legal means and addressed to the Constitutional Court in Romania. The Court decided that the law for the CNSAS’s function is unconstitutional.^[11]

Later on, the High Court gives the verdict that Dan Voiculescu was an informer for the Secret Police. Dan Voiculescu challenges the verdict to the European Court of Justice due to claims of political interferences during his trial.

Crescent

Before 1989 he worked in the foreign trade, leading in the 1980s the company Crescent, which had a special relationship with the Secret Police, specifically with the "Danube" Foreign Trade Enterprise, led by Colonel Constantin Gavril. People talked that the Crescent company, a Romanian-Cypriot joint venture, would have been a front by means of which Ceausescu managed to take money out from the country into a secret account. In 1990, a group of Canadian experts employed by the Romanian Government to track down Ceausescu's money, had proposed the arrest of Dan Voiculescu, but their investigations have been terminated unjustifiably. The Parliament has adopted on October 14, 2008, the report of the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry for investigations and clarifications on the accounts of Nicolae Ceauşescu, the final conclusion being that the former head of state did not have any accounts or wealth deposited abroad. ^[12] "In two years of activity, we have invited various people who were part of the state system then, BCRE people, journalists who have dealt with this issue. In fact, the report’s full contents include the testimonies of these people. The conclusions are based on these testimonies. The overall conclusion of all people heard was that Nicolae Ceauşescu had no accounts abroad", said the Chairman of the Commission of Inquiry, Senator Sabin Cutas to Mediafax.

Corruption Investigation

The Romanian National Anti-corruption Department (DNA) announced on April 3, 2007, that it was investigating Voiculescu, his daughter, and several business associates for money laundering, with regard to funds obtained through the national lottery. Voiculescu denied the charges, claiming the investigation was politically motivated and that the transactions were legal.^[13]

Voiculescu has been accused of other corruption scandals, including an alleged scheme whereby Grivco bought electrical energy from the state-controlled Rovinari complex, and sold the energy back to Electrica, another state-controlled company, at a large profit.^[14][15] Through a spokesman, Voiculescu declined to comment, on the grounds that in December 2004, at the time the contract was signed, he was just a shareholder, and not an administrator of Grivco.^[14]

On October 2009, following some articles in the press ^[16], the Vice-President of the Romanian Senate, Dan Voiculescu, has undergone a vetting process carried out by the National Agency for Fiscal Administration (ANAF) ^[17], verification based on which ANAF has established ^[18] that the allegations surrounding the Senator Dan Voiculescu have no real basis.

References

1. ^ "EPP-ED-Bureau Meeting in Bucharest: 'Romania must do its job'", June 2, 2005.
2. ^ Dan Voiculescu părăseşte Senatul, nu şi politica, Jurnalul National, 7 septembrie 2007.
3. ^ Economist.com | Country Briefings: Romania
4. ^ Traian Basescu, suspendat, Stiri Kappa.ro, 19 aprilie 2007.
5. ^ Senatul Romaniei
6. ^ Guvernul, dat în judecată pentru neaplicarea „Legii Voiculescu“, Saptamana Financiara, 22 martie 2009
7. ^ Craig S. Smith, "Cold War specter lingers in Eastern Europe", International Herald Tribune, December 12, 2006.
8. ^ Jim Compton, "The struggle for civil society in post-revolution Romania", The Seattle Times, October 22, 2006.
9. ^ Ana Şerban, "Voiculescu’s appeal against CNSAS decision delayed in Court", Nine O'Clock, March 21, 2007.
10. ^ Emerging from the Shadows, Tom Gallagher, 14 octombrie 2000
11. ^ Dan Voiculescu a învins CNSAS, Jurnalul National, 1 februarie 2008.
12. ^ Dan Voiculescu acuza lipsa dovezilor, Jurnalul National, 11 iulie 2006.
13. ^ "Political leader Dan Voiculescu, others under criminal inquiry for money laundering", HotNews.ro, April 3, 2007.
14. ^ ^{a b} Emilia Şercan, "Voiculescu, piratul kilowaţilor", Evenimentul Zilei, March 29, 2007.
15. ^ Romanian media mogul and politician investigated on money laundering charges - International Herald Tribune
16. ^ Politicieni, datori milioane de euro la Fisc, Romania Libera, 27 octombrie 2009
17. ^ Comunicat de presa ANAF , Dan Voiculescu blog
18. ^ Documentatie ANAF, Dan Voiculescu blog

External links

Official sites

• The official site of Dan Voiculescu
• The official blog of Dan Voiculescu
• The official site of the 8th electoral body in Bucharest
• “Dan Voiculescu” Foundation for Romania’s Development
• GRIVCO group, founded by Dan Voiculescu

Interviews

• Interview, Adevarul, 8 November 2010
• Interview, Cotidianul, 28 April 2008