Publicly available information indicates connections and interests surrounding the former leadership of the Authority for Romania's Digital Transformation (ADR) and circles close to Sebastian Ghita - the same groups that Digitalisation Minister Irineu Darau says turned Romania's digitalisation agenda into a mix of opaque contracts, political influence and public money channelled toward well-connected actors.

In a statement posted on Wednesday on Facebook, Darau said press investigations show that individuals and companies linked to fugitive media mogul Ghita became central players in major contracts for the Government Cloud during the period when ADR was led by Dragos Cristian Vlad.

Darau pointed to the huge scale of the stakes involved: 415 million RON already awarded for Government Cloud infrastructure, another 743 million RON still in play for migrating state applications, and a total of 2.7 billion RON representing the overall size of Romania's digitalisation program.

The minister argued that billions in EU and public funds have circulated for years around the same influence networks, and that the intensity of current pushback reflects fears of losing control over 'the largest funding stream in Romania's digitalisation'.

He also noted the Government Cloud, the National Interoperability Platform and accelerated, genuine digital transformation must be treated as strategic national projects, not as 'prey for political and economic networks' or heavy hitters tied to former power structures.

'Romania cannot be digitalised by the people and networks that kept the state captive for years,' Darau concluded. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Andreea Marinescu; EN - writing by: Simona Klodnischi)

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