U.S. Ambassador to Romania Nicholas Taubman recently spoke to a group in Atlanta, Georgia about investing in Romania. An excerpt of his speech can be found below:
- Good Morning. I am delighted to be here…to share with you my experience as the U.S. Ambassador to one of the most dynamic and fascinating markets in Europe, a country that has become the hottest market for Foreign Direct Investment throughout the entire region.
- Romania is often referred to as “the best kept secret in Europe” and now - the European Union. I trust that after our brief remarks this afternoon, you’ll understand why, as the U.S. Ambassador and the founder and former CEO of what is now a Fortune 500 company, I would urge you to carefully consider Romania as your next market, if you are not there already (Advance Auto Parts).
- I’ve played witness to tremendous changes in Romania in my time as Ambassador. Romania has emerged from the long, dark night of communism and has made incredible progress in the last few years. One can sense the casting off of the old ways and a rediscovery of latent possibilities.
- Romania's recent achievements are impressive. They include NATO membership in 2004, EU membership in 2007, and eight years of solid economic growth that have refashioned the country into a modern democracy and a market economy.
- Romania is a country of enormous promise and potential with a marketplace of 22 million consumers. It is rich in agricultural lands, energy and mineral resources, and human capital, with a well-educated and productive labor force. I’ve been impressed by the creative, entrepreneurial spirit of the people. Their talent, skill, and ambition are already turning Romania into a key player in the region and beyond.
- Romanians can be found in the boardrooms of major corporations from Silicon Valley to Wall Street, as well as at the helm of operations in Romania. The country's human talent has allowed major multinationals to move quickly to reliance on domestic managers, rather than expensive foreign staff. Romanians are known for having both outstanding engineering and language skills. People are beginning to talk about the so-called “Return to Romania,” which is a very encouraging sign. I’ve heard plenty of stories about some of Romania’s brightest, including many who left under very trying circumstances, returning home to establish companies and capitalize on their Western know-how, some after more than two decades. A well-known American executive recruiting firm tells me they’ve been quite successful at placing Romanian-born executives in positions back in their home country.
- One of the Romania’s great success stories can be found in the Information Technology sector. Not only is it recognized as one of the strongest in the region, boasting 85 percent American products and continuing to attract high-levels of investment; Romania’s own innovations have become globally recognized products. The legislation governing the sector has served to encourage investors and helped stem the so-called “brain drain” experienced in other sectors. I recently read that the Economist Intelligence Unit ranks Romania ahead of India, Russia, and China in terms of IT sector competitiveness (Impressive!).
- On the occasion of the inauguration of Microsoft’s Global Technology Support Center in Bucharest a year ago, I asked Bill Gates “why Romania?” His response was simple - great geographic location, great engineers, and great foreign language speakers. They say that after English, one of the languages heard most often at Microsoft’s Seattle headquarters is Romanian, spoken by the 300 plus Romanians employed there. Bill Gates knows a thing or two about the war for talent…
- But Microsoft is not alone. Leading U.S. and European companies have moved eagerly into the Romanian market. Airline connections throughout Europe and beyond are proliferating. In fact, Georgia’s own Delta Airlines made it that much easier to bridge the Atlantic last June when they inaugurated their direct flight to JFK. It's amazing to think that Foreign Direct Investment in Romania from the U.S. and Europe is up over 600% since 2000!
- In a few short weeks, Bucharest will be in the world spotlight as dozens of foreign leaders, including President George Bush, converge there for the NATO Summit. For this, the people and leaders of Romania have good reason to be proud.
- What can you expect to find upon arrival to Bucharest? A city bustling with activity, framed by construction cranes and anchored by bumper to bumper traffic, serving as testimony to the city’s exponential growth. In fact, Romania now ranks first in the EU in construction works - boasting an annual growth rate of 33 percent. You could make a case that the construction crane should be the new "national bird" of Romania.
- But the explosive growth is not limited to the capital city. The fact that the investment locations are decentralized is one of the attributes that makes Romania so attractive. Constanta, known as the “eastern gateway of Europe” is home to the second largest port in Europe in terms of capacity, and still has potential to grow; Iasi, Timisoara and Cluj are recognized as industrial and IT hot spots, experiencing some of the fastest growth rates in the country. Ploiesti and Craivoa are becoming automotive hubs, with Ford Motor Company slated to open its largest new plant in 36 years in Craiova.
- Cluj is attracting plenty of investment and media interest. You may have noticed the hoopla surrounding Nokia’s new mobile-phone plant. I saw first hand what the excitement was about when I visited Cluj last November to check on the progress of the Transylvania Motorway, a 3.2 billion dollar project that will nearly triple the amount of motorway in Romania. The four-lane road, the biggest project in Europe, will cut travel time to Hungary in half, making it much easier to get your products to the major European markets. And you know the road will be quality, because Bechtel is building it. This road is drawing investment to the region already, and it's not even done. St. Louis-based Emerson is set to join Nokia with a new Cluj plant in the near future. The list goes on and on, and so could I, but I won’t as I want to leave time for your questions.
- I’ll end with this. The more I travel the globe, the more I come to realize that we need to start focusing on our similarities as people rather than our differences. In the case of Romania that is a pretty simple task as our two countries and peoples have much in common. In fact, Ambassador Vierita even shares a birthday with the United States! He is in for quite a surprise when he celebrates his first birthday party this 4th of July in our nation’s capital. From my own experience, I have found Romanians to be warm, open and friendly. Romanians are hard workers and we both believe in working hard to make our lives better. I believe that the time to build on success is while you're successful. For Romania, that time is now. It should be for you as well. Thank you.
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March 2008 I think the U.S. Ambassador to Romania has a scewed perspective. Has he done his research or even taken a good look at some legally documented history. Read on. The Central Bank of Romania has covered so much thievery from private investments, it isn’t funny. I hope we Americans and particular anyone considering making any substantial investment in the Romanian economy has the where with all to take a look at some hard facts that politicians are conveniently over looking for numerous reasons. Even the European Court of Human Rights has turned its back on the corruption by disallowing a case registered against Romania in their court. The case involved corruption committed directly by The Central Bank of Romania who stole $12 million U.S. from a privately held company owned by a Canadian citizen. To cover their theft they accused and illegally tried a Canadian Citizen. This is a true story, legally documented. It is the story of the little guy being stepped on by a tremendous machine - all for political and financial gain.
The case in reference, 9701-04, was registerd with the ECHR in September 2004. It revealed a polticial scam exposing The Central Bank of Romania in the act of thievery from The Darianne Program for Agriculture, a private company developed by an individual who defected from Communism under Ceausescu returning only after the supposed fall of Communism.
The Program, reviwed and approved by The Romanian Parliament and Senate even had the blessing of then President Iliescu. The Program flourished employing 1,500 Romanians in its bakeries, slaughter houses, milk processing factories, ice cream manufacturing factories and retail stores. Dariannes’ success created such credibility in the European community; it was able to bring unprecendented foreign financing to the Program. This financing was administered by Banco di Napoli (Italy) and Den Danske Bank (Denmark). Because of the value of the financing, in the eyes of the lender the only credible bank to guarantee the loan was The Central Bank of Romania. The Central Bank gladly accepted this responsibility assigning administration of the loans to two newly formed Romanian banks, Dacia Feliz and Credit Bank.
Foreign financing was directed to a specific turn-key project in The Program, giving Darianne the right to access equipment, not cash. The idea was revenues generated by the new manufacturing facilities would repay the loan. The Program did just that until two major projects were skillfully compromised by falsified documents showing delivery of equipment, when in fact equipment was not delivered. Even though this was immediately reported to the Romanian police, Interpol, the Romanian Ministry of Finance and The Romanian Central Bank, The Romanian Central Bank ignored the reports and release $3.6 million U.S. in payment of the non-delivered equipment. The $3.6 million was paid to the Bank of DiNapoli, Italy. (Note: The Banco Di Napoli who had more than $1 billion in “bad loans” was later closed by the Italians. Assets were bought by Banco di Roma. To uncover the scheme, the Banco di Roma was taken to court in Canada. During cross-examination, the Financing Project Manager of former Banco Di Napoli, Luxembourg testified that based on non-credible documents, no money should have been released from The Central Bank to Banco Di Napoli in payment of the non-delivered equipment. Also sighted was the agreed system of document verification had not been followed. Two signatures were always required prior to release of funds. The principal of the Darianne Program was to sign as well as a Commercial Officer in the Italian Embassy in Bucharest, Romania. This procedure had been followed for each prior equipment delivery. Without both signatures, The Central Bank of Romania was not to pay for any equipment.)
Immediately after The Central Bank released the money, they then took $22 million U.S. worth of projects from The Darianne Program and transferred them to a company called SYBCO. This was done despite lack of approval from the owner of Darianne and used as a method to silence his protests. (Note: The owner of SYBCO was the former Chief of The National Orgniazation of Young Communists under Ceausescu.)
Shortly thereafter, as clearly documented in the press $12 million U.S. was cashed out of the SYBCO program exactly as it had been done in The Darianne Program for Agriculture. To this day, the criminal file against SYBCO has never come to trial in Romania. Where did the $3.6 million and the $12 million U.S. go that was cashed out of these programs?
To silence the Canadian owner of Darianne, The Central Bank directed Credit Bank and Dacia Felix bank to file a lawsuit against him personally for mismanagement and theft of the money from The Darianne Porgram.
Throughout this entire scenario, misuse of power became obvious. Eventually a trial took place in Romania in which the defendant was clearly denied:
1. The right to present witnesses or evidence in his defense.
2. The right to present exculpatory accounting evidence.
3. The right to adequate opportunity to test and challenge the evidence presented against him.
Also,
1. There wer inaccuracies and inconsistencies in the accounting evidence presented by the plaintiff to which the defendant was not permitted to present evidence to show otherwise.
2. The amount of damages claimed was exorbitant and never substantiated.
3. The sitting Judge, Rodica Caragea was under penal investigation at the time of the the trial. She was later convicted.
4. Proceedings were conducted in a manner contrary to Romanian written law.
5. The final decision in the case was obtained by fraud.
6. There was no connection to the owner personally and the amounts claimed by the Plaintiff.
In September 2007, 3 years after filing the case with the European Court of Human Rights, the owner of Darianne sent notification to the ECHR documenting a change of address. Astoundingly, a response came from The Court. It was a brief letter from a Clerk stating the following:
“A decision to disallow the case was taken on June 20, 2006.” (Note: this was the first notice ECHR had sent to the owner of Darianne - 17 months have the case was disallowed.) Attached to the brief letter was a non-dated, non-signed letter written by a clerk stating that the decision had been taken by 3 judges (one of whom was Romanian), that the case had been dismissed under the vaque Articles 34 and 35 of the Convention. It stated that they found no violation of right and freedoms. Additionally, it stated that the file would be destroyed after one year and there would be no recourse for appeal.
Odd isn’t it. If the owner of Darianne had not notified the ECHR of a change of address, would he have been notified at all?
There are obisous irregularities and oddities with this case handled by the European Court of Human Rights:
1. Neither the owner of Darianne or his lawyer were notified of the decision until the change of address notification - 17 months after a decision had been taken.
2. Despite all previous correspondence from The European Court of Human Rights having reached the Owner in a timely manner, this notification was neither singed, dated or sent by Register Post.
3. Sitting on the committe of 3 rendering a decision to disallow this case from the ECHR was a Romanian Judge. Is this not partisanship. Seating this individual on a Committee to judge a volitile Romanian case clearly demonstrates a conflict of interest.
4. By the time the owner of Darianne was notified, the case files were destroyed by The Court allowing no review of the Court opinion.
5. Only reference to two vague articles 34 and 35 are sighted for the Committee’s dcision.
6. The letter from the European Court of Human Rights stating disallowance of the case carries NO DATE and NO SIGNATURE.
7. During the time the facts of this case and ultimate results of this case were suppressed, Romania became a full member of the EU.
The only reasonable conclusion that can be drawn from this is that if one is not permitted witnesses and doucmented defense in a trial, it appears that The European Court of Human Rights has regressed to the days of the French Revolution.
It appears that the ECHR has chosen in fact to push aside a case that clearly defies Human Rights to hide the extent and level of thievery and corruption in Romania. Was this case in fact too politically volatile to hear? Was it easier to push it aside and hope that it goes away?
It appears that the only recourse is to present documents and proof to anyone who will listen and to warn the North American business community of the dangers of investing business dollars in the European community, particularly Romania. There are niether laws nor courts big or small that are preapared to expose the extreme, high-level of corruption in Romania let alone to protect foreign investors.
Note: court cases registered in Canada (which are part of the public record) and Romania clearly document the above. All facts are supporedt by legal document and testimony.
See the website: http://www.hawala.us
This book is based on a true story. As an editor I was privy to read first hand the registered court cases, supporting legal documenation and legal testimony registered in the Supreme Court of Canada. Romania has worked hard to stifle this case among others because it reveals high-level corruption. As an American I am astonished that we could promote a country without displaying the reality.