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The Romanian Directorate for the Investigation of Crimes of Organized Crime and Terrorism (DRPOPT) announced last night that after the searches carried out in the offices of the company NIS Petrol, a subsidiary in Romania of the Russian giant Gazprom, on suspicion of disclosure of secret official information and unauthorized transfer of information data , charges have been brought against four people, reports in "Adeverul", quoted by BTA.

A press release from the institution stated that a number of documents and means of data storage were confiscated, eight people were taken for questioning, and four of them - Romanian and foreign citizens - were charged with "circumventing the methodological norms for the application of The Petroleum Act".

DRPOPT yesterday raided nine addresses in Timisoara and Bucharest, including offices of the company NIS Petrol, the Romanian branch of the Serbian company NIS, which is controlled by Gazprom, as well as employees' residences, on suspicion of espionage.

According to the announcement of DRPOPT, the four persons are accused that, in their capacity as employees of a multinational company (...) they circumvented the methodological norms for the application of the Petroleum Law, respectively the procedures imposed by the National Agency for Mineral Resources, and passed on information not intended for the public data on the fund of resources (mineral reserves) of Romania of a company from the same consortium in Serbia.

Digi 24 TV notes that the investigation by DRPOPT, the Romanian Intelligence Service and the Foreign Intelligence Service in Gazprom's branch in Romania revealed the fact that NIS Petrol collected data on oil and gas reserves in a number of perimeters in the western Timiș County and transmitted to Moscow without informing the Romanian authorities of what she had discovered.

They searched a branch of "Gazprom" in Romania, suspected espionage

Although it had the obligation to transmit this data to the Romanian state, represented through the National Agency for Mineral Resources, NIS Petrol transmitted all the information directly to Belgrade and from there most likely to Moscow, the publication "Press Alert" states, noting that the Romanian authorities they had no idea at all what was discovered during the NIS Petrol surveys.

Digi 24 reports that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic also commented on the case of the raids at NIS Petrol.

He has stated that this harms the country's image, as NIS Petrol is a Serbian company, but if the allegations are true, it is not about Serbian citizens.

"I do not at all exclude the possibility of real guilt of the NIS, but I do not know the case, I have not dealt with it. It is important to emphasize that they are not Serbian citizens, they have nothing to do with us. They are mostly Russians, but we will ask more information from the Romanian police," Vucic said, according to Euronews Serbia.

According to him, the scandal is related to Serbia's position on the international stage and aims to "discipline those who some consider disobedient".

"They're accusing one of the NIS branches of a data leak or something. That's all we missed. Explain now that this has nothing to do with the Serbian state when it's reported in all the news around the world that it's a company from Belgrade." , he notes.

The NIS company specified that "it has cooperated and will cooperate fully with all competent authorities to clarify all aspects related to the activities of the company and its employees in Romania".

Gazprom

Romania

espionage