Tiriac sues "Le Point"

Ion Tiriac accuses the French weekly "Le Point" of defamatory statements and demands 100,000 euros in compensation. The trial opened in Paris on November 24.

The trial of Ion Tiriac against Franz-Olivier Giesbert, the director of the French weekly "Le Point", opened on November 24 at the High Court in Paris.

The Romanian businessman, represented by the lawyer Henri Leclerc, accuses "Le Point" of "defamatory statements infringing on honor and consideration. The crime is provided for and repressed by the law of July 29, 1881.

The object of the complaint is the article entitled "Romania's reckless contract", published by "Le Point" on May 19. Specifically, two peppered passages. The two journalists report in detail the scandal triggered in Romania by the contract for border security (1 billion euros), concluded on August 12, 2004 by the Nastase government with the French-German multinational EADS.

(Proving unfavorable, the megacontract was renegotiated by the current government and "lowered" from 650 to 524 million euros.) In the criminal complaint submitted to the court this summer, the law firm SCP Henri Leclerc & Associes quotes the full article, signed by Jean Guisnel and Laszlo Liszkai.

Two defendants who "injure the honor of Ion Tiriac"

The journalists wrote that "20 million euros, reallocated after signing the contract, would have been received by Ion Tiriac, former tennis champion turned businessman and representative in Romania of several German industries, including Siemens, partner with EADS in this business ".

This passage, say lawyers, gives Ion Tiriac "acts of corruption and influence peddling."

Stating that "in the end, the money would have been used to finance Adrian Nastase's election campaign", the journalists attribute to Ion Tiriac "the fact that he would have participated in the illegal financing of the campaign of the former Romanian Prime Minister Adrian Nastase, making him to take advantage of the occult commission received from EADS ".

In the opinion of the Leclerc office, the fragment contains two accusations that injure the honor of Ion Tiriac.

"To emphasize the fraudulent nature of the operation and the degree of corruption of all these people" (described in the article, no.), The authors of the article stressed that the new prime minister began by "cleaning up": he expelled two senior police officers. faithful servants of Adrian Nastase ".

Lawyer Henri Leclerc reproaches journalists for bad faith. If he had personally contacted Ion Tiriac, he could have had "reactions" from him in connection with the accusations brought, especially serious.

The Romanians did not know the ins and outs of the business

Lawyer Henri Leclerc demands the conviction of the director of "Le Point", Franz-Olivier Giesbert, to pay 100,000 euros. Leclerc claims that the statement, according to which Ion Tiriac "is a man who flirts with corruption and power", is particularly damaging.

In the November 24 indictment, the lawyer tried to convince the French judiciary that the EADS affair and the close relations between Tiriac and various Western managers and / or local politicians were unknown to readers in Romania. As evidence, maitre (master) Henri Leclerc brought numerous articles from Romanian newspapers that take over or quote the statements from "Le Point".

But all published after May 19, the date of publication of the incriminating article. Regarding "the Nastase-Tiriac fingerprints in the pharaonic border contract" (Rl of 14.10.2004), the French judges may have the opportunity to clarify soon. The court set the next court on April 28. This time, the protagonists were invited to present themselves in person.