On September 17, the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) raided again the offices of Microsoft Romania. Many of the witnesses and defendants that were heard until now testified about the manner in which the contracts for the informatization of Romania were closed. The prosecutors that investigate the case Microsoft-Fujitsu-EADS requested new documents to the corporation accused of Fraud and corruption through intermediaries. Sursa Zilei asked DNA for official information about the six hours raid of the investigators at the headquarters of Microsoft Romania. The proceedings were discrete, lasted from 16.00 till 22.00, and aimed to pick up documents, after DNA did not receive from Microsoft the answers to its questions. The management of the company assured the Police of their full collaboration, the next day all the requested documents having to be submitted. In the case that implies the Romanian Government, similarly to the cases of countries whose judicial systems are less sensible to frauds (Italy, Russia, China or Pakistan), Microsoft closed principle agreements for licensing through intermediaries. Market specialists say that this is a technique used by the American corporations to reject the eventual corruption charges in the U.S. legislation. However, the Microsoft contracts did not escape the FBI or SEC investigations. At the end of 2013, Microsoft Romania was visited by a team of their own investigators, and the local management was informed that it is placed at the disposal of the U.S. Government. This very moment, the Romanian Government negotiates the extension and the supplementation of the licensing contracts for the programs used in the state institutions, while most of these computers run 2004 operating systems, that were not upgraded according to the already paid invoices.
