“Controversy is mounting over the details of the awarding of a contract worth nearly 200 million euros from the SAFE program to Digi Romania for a digital security platform for the SRI. Appearing on a TV show, Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan stated that he had learned of the matter from the media. The response comes after the SRI stated in a press release that ‘the identification and selection of suppliers (…) is carried out within the inter-institutional working group coordinated by the head of the Prime Minister’s Office,’ namely Mihai Jurca, Bolojan’s right-hand man, writes realitatea.net.

According to him, after the amounts for each authority and the list of projects were approved, each institution within the defense and security system—the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of the Interior, the STS, the SPP, and the SRI—negotiated its own procurements.

Only at the very end did the contracts reach a government-level working group, but only for a final check to ensure compliance with all criteria.

“This working group had no involvement in these negotiations, which were conducted directly; neither the Government (…), nor I personally, and we simply found out from the media who had signed this contract. That is the reality,” Bolojan stated.

Ilie Bolojan suggested that the SRI had created confusion with its statement implying that the decision to select Digi Romania for the SAFE contract was made at the government level.

“It seems normal to me to explain as clearly as possible what happened. I understand they also issued a press release earlier today, but every authority must explain this because otherwise confusion arises and people no longer understand what is happening,” said Bolojan.

The Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) issued a statement on Thursday addressing public controversy surrounding the €196 million contract awarded to Digi Romania for the development of a cybersecurity platform, funded through the European SAFE program.

According to the statement, the selection of suppliers was not decided unilaterally by the SRI. The process took place within an inter-institutional working group coordinated by the Head of the Prime Minister’s Office, and the final list of suppliers was approved by the Supreme Council for National Defense (CSAT).

Mihai Jurca, who is responsible for coordinating the SAFE program and also served as head of the Chancellery under the dismissed Prime Minister Bolojan, stated that the choice of Digi was not made by the Government, but by the Romanian Intelligence Service.

At the request of Realitatea Plus, the Executive stated through spokesperson Ioana Dogioiu that the selection under this program was made by the SRI. “The selection has no connection to Ilie Bolojan,” the government spokesperson said.

A response also came from the company in question, which stated that: “DIGI met the requirements applicable in the public procurement process.”