Forum : about bribes

Sat Mar 7, 2009 6:16 pm

Show Message Option

linda robak

lrobak1

Offline

Send Email

Quite frankly, I doubt if they'll ever indict the PM on charges of corruption or receiving bribes regarding inter-country adoption as many members of the Romanian Adoption committee were receiving bribes of up to $2,500 to approve an adoption or get it on Nastase's desk, not to mention all of the other government officials involved - including Parliamentarians, their spouses, and local DPC officals. Some they let go through without bribes for a variety of reasons, as I know for a fact that mine was one of them in May of 2001. At one point in Romania's adoption history after Nicholson became involved - it was either in June of 2002 or 2003 - the entire RAC was disbanded as the bribes had become so obvious. However, that didn't stop the bribes. Instead at that point, although Nicholson never publicly revealed it was the RAC and the PM that were accepting bribes for finalized adoptions, she did begin to claim parents and agencies were paying bribes. Technically she was correct. It was the parent's money - unbeknownst to them - that was being used, and it was the agencies knowlingly in some cases, unknowingly in others - that via their facilitators/Romanian foundation directors and who were paying. Nicholson didn't really have the courage to stand up to a majority of Romanian government officials, so she blamed the easy targets - parents and agencies - instead.

Nicholson, although on a rampage against ICA, basically let the adoptions proceed until Nastase made a deal with the Italian government to allow 125 babies to be allowed ICA in December of 2003. At that point, due to the fact that it was widely reported in the media and was so obviously biased toward a particular country, Nicholson insisted on redrafting the child welfare legislation that was almost ready for a vote and included provisions for ICA. Given her power and influence at the time, and due to the fact that Romanian government officials felt that they had to bend over for her to soften her anger and ensure they would, indeed, get into the EU, they then decided to take out ICA from the legislation. Even Nicholson was surprised that they went to that extreme.

Romania has a long history of requesting bribes and getting rich on those citizens they don't want but are willing to "sell". Ceausescu made a deal with the Israeli government to allow Jews to immigrate to Israel and Palestine in exchange for cash, agricultural products, tires (Romania didn't have access to rubber to produce the number of tires needed), and sometimes political influence. This privileged relationship between the 2 countries allowed Israel after 1967 to maintain in Bucharest its only embassy in the Eastern European bloc. It also allowed Ceausescu, although an anti-Semite, to emerge as a mediator in the Middle East peace process, in which he hoped to use Israel to improve his own relations with the United States. For more info on this little known "secret", I encourage you to read "The Ransom of the Jews" by Radu Ioanid, with a forward by Elie Wiesel.

Linda

a