Senate President Mircea Abrudean stated on Monday that the PNL leadership's decision to recover funds from unpaid invoices or from contracts concluded in violation of statutory provisions is not directed against any specific individuals, nor is it an act of settling scores.

'This is not a decision directed against specific individuals, nor is it a settling of scores, though it might be perceived as such. It is a matter of administrative accountability for those who, at a certain point, made financial commitments that resulted in extremely large penalties, penalties that the National Liberal Party (PNL) now has to pay. It is a clarification in that regard. That is what I believe will happen; it is about accountability, I repeat, not about finding someone to blame or anything of the sort,' stated Abrudean, when asked about the PNL's decision to recover a portion of the funds spent during the election campaign by taking legal action against members of the former leadership.

When asked whether this concerned former PNL leader Nicolae Ciuca, former secretary general Lucian Bode, or Rares Bogdan, Abrudean stated that specific individuals were not discussed, as there had been several such commitments over time, not just the most recent agreement.

'That is, in fact, where the problem lies, how such situations could arise, where penalties reach exorbitant amounts. It comes down to paying attention to detail when signing a contract and engaging an entity, whether it be a political party or a company, that ends up generating such massive penalties. That is what this is about,' added Mircea Abrudean.

The leader of the PNL senators, Daniel Fenechiu, stated that there are two situations: the debts of local organizations and those of central organizations.

'Regarding local organizations, the 2017 statute of the National Liberal Party contains provisions stating that whenever an individual, such as an organization president, wishes to commit the county organization to an expenditure exceeding 10,000 lei, that decision must, without exception, be countersigned by the Secretary General and approved by the central leadership. In the specific cases, the four organizations that have incurred debts since 2020, these expenditures were never approved in Bucharest. Consequently, the party's statute allows for action to be taken, separate from the party's own efforts to mitigate damages arising from the service provider's claims, against those who violated the statutory rules by committing the organization or branch to obligations that exceeded their authority to represent or make decisions,' explained Daniel Fenechiu.

According to him, the president of the organization who signed the contracts can be sued, and that sum of money can be charged to him.

Regarding contracts with penalty clauses ranging from 0.5% to 1% per day, Fenechiu stated that this matter had not been discussed or decided upon.

'The situation we find ourselves in is much harder to fathom, especially considering that those of you who have followed the political scene know that, back in 2016-2017, we already had an issue with this company, AMMA Print, which went as far as to enforce a seizure of our headquarters on Nicolae Balcescu Street. So, the fact that, after they've seized one of your offices, you continue to work with them in both 2020 and 2024... well, that speaks volumes. I couldn't tell you who made that decision,' Fenechiu added.

The current leadership, he pointed out, can take legal action against those, at both the local and national levels, who exceeded their authority; specifically, those who signed documents or served as the authorizing officer for payments at the time in question.

'In this regard, an audit is underway; a deadline was set yesterday. Once that deadline has passed, the current leadership will provide the necessary clarifications, we are certainly not going to operate in secret. The individuals in question have been formally notified; they will surely provide some response, they could get involved in resolving the issue, or even contribute their own personal funds (though I doubt that will happen), but they do have the opportunity to help resolve the matter. If none of this takes place, however, they will face legal action,' warned the leader of the Liberal senators.

He claimed that the penalties increase the amount owed from the campaign by 300 percent.

On Sunday, the National Political Bureau of the PNL unanimously approved the initiation of procedures to recover amounts related to unpaid invoices or contracts concluded in violation of statutory provisions.

The National Liberal Party has definitively lost the lawsuit it brought against the Permanent Electoral Authority (AEP) and must return 14 million lei to the state budget, funds received as a subsidy for Nicolae Ciuca's 2024 presidential campaign. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Alina Novaceanu;EN - writing by: Catalin Cristian Trandafir)