Claudiu Săftoiu
Encyclopedia
Claudiu Elvis Săftoiu is a Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

n journalist. From December 2004 to October 2006, he was an adviser to President
President of Romania
The President of Romania is the head of state of Romania. The President is directly elected by a two-round system for a five-year term . An individual may serve two terms...

 Traian Băsescu
Traian Basescu
Traian Băsescu is the current President of Romania. After serving as the mayor of Bucharest from June 2000 until December 2004, he was elected president in the Romanian Presidential Elections of 2004 and inaugurated on December 20, 2004...

 on matters of domestic policy; subsequently, until March 2007, he directed the Foreign Intelligence Service (SIE).

He was married to former presidential adviser and current member of the Chamber of Deputies
Chamber of Deputies of Romania
The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house in Romania's bicameral parliament. It has 315 seats, to which deputies are elected by direct popular vote on a proportional representation basis to serve four-year terms...

 Adriana Săftoiu
Adriana Săftoiu
Ana Adriana Săftoiu is a Romanian journalist and politician. A member of the National Liberal Party , she was a member of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies for Bucharest in December 2004, and has represented Prahova County in the Chamber since 2008...

 for eighteen years until their divorce in 2011; they have one child.

Biography

Born in Focşani
Focsani
Focşani is the capital city of Vrancea County in Romania on the shores the Milcov river, in the historical region of Moldavia. It has a population of 101,854.-Geography:...

, in 1994 he graduated from the University of Bucharest
University of Bucharest
The University of Bucharest , in Romania, is a university founded in 1864 by decree of Prince Alexander John Cuza to convert the former Saint Sava Academy into the current University of Bucharest.-Presentation:...

's Faculty of Letters. From that time until 2002, he held a variety of jobs in journalism: news reporter at PRO FM (1994–1995); executive director of Radio 2M+ (1994–1995); editor-in-chief and head of the news department at Radio Total
Radio Total
Radio Total is a radio station broadcasting in Bucharest on 96.9 MHz, launched on 21 December 1993.As of 27 October 2008 the former Radio Total was rebranded as Radio Gold FM....

 (1995–1997); assistant editor-in-chief and head of the political department at Evenimentul Zilei
Evenimentul Zilei
Evenimentul Zilei is one of the leading newspapers in Romania. Based in Bucharest, the Romanian-language daily has a paid daily circulation of 110,000...

(1997–1999); political interviewer at Privirea (1999–2000); political commentator at Oameni în top (1999–2000); media adviser and press officer at a tourism company (2001–2002); head of the political department at Plai cu Boi (2000–2002). Among the publications that have featured Săftoiu's work are România Literară, Curentul, Azi, Convorbiri literare, Dilema, Curierul romanesc; and he authored a book in 2003, Jurnalismul politic – manipularea politicienilor prin mass-media, manipularea mass-media de către politicieni ("Political Journalism - Manipulation of Politicians by the Mass Media, Manipulation of the Mass Media by Politicians"). Between 1994 and 1997, he conducted over 150 live radio interviews with politicians, and later on, he conducted over 250 interviews with a variety of political figures. In the early 2000s, he worked as a consultant, offering a number of training courses in media communications and campaign management, as well as advising the World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...

 on the feasibility of developing the Jiu Valley
Jiu Valley
The Jiu Valley is a region in southwestern Romania, in Hunedoara county, situated in a valley of the Jiu River between the Retezat Mountains and the Parâng Mountains...

.

In 2004, following Băsescu's election
Romanian presidential election, 2004
A presidential election was held in Romania on November 28, 2004. 12 candidates competed for the office. As no candidate won more than 50% of the votes, a run-off was held on December 12, 2004, between the two leading candidates: prime minister Adrian Năstase of the ruling Social Democratic Party...

 as President, Săftoiu became his domestic policy adviser. In autumn 2006, the Parliament of Romania
Parliament of Romania
The Parliament of Romania is made up of two chambers:*The Chamber of Deputies*The SenatePrior to the modifications of the Constitution in 2003, the two houses had identical attributes. A text of a law had to be approved by both houses...

, meeting in joint session and on a vote of 294 to 114, confirmed Săftoiu as head of the SIE, with the Greater Romania Party
Greater Romania Party
The Greater Romania Party is a Romanian radical right-wing, ultra-nationalist political party, led by Corneliu Vadim Tudor. The party is sometimes referred to in English as the Great Romania Party....

 (PRM) and the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (Romania)
The Conservative Party of Romania is a political party formed in 1991, after the fall of Communism, under the name of the Romanian Humanist Party . From 2005 until December 3, 2006, the party was a junior member of the ruling coalition...

 (PC) voting against. Thereafter, he left his position as adviser. In February 2007, Săftoiu received criticism from the National Liberal Party
National Liberal Party (Romania)
The National Liberal Party , abbreviated to PNL, is a centre-right liberal party in Romania. It is the third-largest party in the Romanian Parliament, with 53 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 22 in the Senate: behind the centre-right Democratic Liberal Party and the centre-left Social...

 (PNL) involving two Romanians who had been held on an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 base in Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

 since the previous November; at issue was the fact that Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Romania
The Prime Minister of Romania is the head of the Government of Romania. Initially, the office was styled President of the Council of Ministers , when the term "Government" included more than the Cabinet, and the Cabinet was called The Council of Ministers...

 Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu
Calin Popescu-Tariceanu
Călin Constantin Anton Popescu-Tăriceanu is a Romanian politician. He was the Prime Minister of Romania between 29 December 2004 and 22 December 2008...

 had only learned of the situation from the news media when the story broke in February. Near the end of the month, as part of a widening feud between Băsescu and Tăriceanu, Parliament voted to establish a committee of inquiry, headed by the PC's Dan Voiculescu
Dan Voiculescu
Dan Voiculescu is a Romanian politician and former business man. He is the Vicepresident of the Romanian Senate and founding president of the Conservative Party in Romania. ....

, into alleged constitutional
Constitution of Romania
The 1991 Constitution of Romania, adopted on 21 November 1991, voted in the referendum of 8 December 1991 and introduced on the same day, is the current fundamental law that establishes the structure of the government of Romania, the rights and obligations of the country's citizens, and its mode...

 violations by Băsescu, a process that eventually ended in his suspension and attempted impeachment
Romanian presidential impeachment referendum, 2007
The Romanian presidential impeachment referendum of 2007 was conducted in order to determine whether the president of Romania Traian Băsescu should be forced to step down.On April 19, 2007 the Romanian parliament suspended Băsescu...

. Called to testify, Săftoiu declared that the SIE had the technology to intercept telephone conversations, and had done so inside Romania and not abroad as required, and with the approval of a prosecutor rather than a judge, as required. Săftoiu later attempted to clarify his remarks, asserting that he had not referred exclusively to SIE activities, but he was nonetheless forced to resign by the scandal that ensued. Reportedly, Băsescu refused to answer Săftoiu's telephone calls after his testimony and demanded that he leave office, and once he did so, Tăriceanu labelled it a tacit admission that the SIE had conduced unauthorised telephone tapping.

After his resignation, Săftoiu became a critic of Băsescu's: for instance, in January 2009, he asserted that the President had intercepted conversations between prominent Social Democratic Party
Social Democratic Party (Romania)
The Social Democratic Party is the major social-democratic political party in Romania. It was formed in 1992, after the post-communist National Salvation Front broke apart. It adopted its present name after a merger with a minor social-democratic party in 2001. Since its formation, it has always...

 politicians Ion Iliescu
Ion Iliescu
Ion Iliescu served as President of Romania from 1990 until 1996, and from 2000 until 2004. From 1996 to 2000 and from 2004 until his retirement in 2008, Iliescu was a Senator for the Social Democratic Party , whose honorary president he remains....

 and Mircea Geoană
Mircea Geoana
Dan Mircea Geoană is a Romanian politician, who served as president of the upper chamber of the Romanian Parliament, the Senate from December 20, 2008 until he was revoked by the senators on November 23, 2011. From 21 April 2005 until 21 February 2010 he was the head of the Partidul Social...

, prompting a lawsuit by Băsescu. Two months later, in an interview on Vorbe grele
Vorbe grele
Vorbe grele is a TV news talk-show, on the Intact Media Group station Antena 3, hosted by Romanian journalist Victor Ciutacu...

, he claimed that elements within the intelligence services do the "dirty work" of the "supreme person", hinting but not explicitly stating that this individual is Băsescu.
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