13 years of scandals hidden by Cristian Gatu!

From 1996, since he is president at FRH, Cristian Gaţu has covered all the miseries from the Romanian handball

Everything burst in march 2009, when it was found out that the Danish referees Gjeding and Hansen received money and girls to help Romania at the match in the preliminaries of World Championship 2009 with Montenegro. The former vice president of FRH, Petru Paleu, and the spotter of the masculine "national", Aihan Omer, were the ones who proposed money to the referees. "They offered us the amount of 60.000 euro and the services of two prostitutes", was the declaration of the referee Martin Gjeding.

The European Federation acted immediately and suspended Paleu and Omer for 5 years. Even FRH surcharged them with 27.500 euro. In the first instance, Gaţu negated any implication of the Romanian officials. "These referees cannot speak this way about the Romanian handball without having any proof", said Gaţu, on march 2009.

In June 2009, in an interview given to those from Academia Caţavencu, Gaţu confessed, without knowing that he was recorded. "I have evidence! When this scandal started, it was normal not to tell the truth, otherwise it would have been a proof for them. And do you know what the verdict was? They would have taken us out from all the official competitions... 4 years", confessed Gaţu.

What is Gaţu accused of?

1. He knew about the corruption in the Romanian arbitration
In process of time, many officials of the teams in Romania complained about the corruption which existed in the Romanian arbitration. But the federation has never taken incorrigible measures. Gaţu admitted in the interview given in June to those from Academia Caţavencu the fact that he knew everything. "It is real because Mr. Paleu and Mr. Omer and one called Sanie, who was at Fibrex Săvineşti, were giving money to the referees in Romania even when they played with Cetatea Bucur", says Gaţu. "Now I realise why Dinamo had that arbitrations. In vain did I complain and informe Gaţu. He was involved. Dinamo lost some championships on the decisions of the referees because we didn’t have money", declared Marcel Popescu, the president of CS Dinamo until in June 2009.

"I thought that Mr. Gaţu is not involved in the miseries with the arbitration in the Romanian handball. Now he lost all the credibility. He should give the honor demission"
Vasile Stîngă, coach at Lignitul Tg. Jiu

2. He changed the competitional system after the end of the championship

This is something unheard of within the federations in Romania. In order to save Rapid and Galaţi, at feminine, in the season 2006-2007, the federation changed the competitional system after the end of the championship. From 12 teams it was changed to 14. No team degraded! "Cristian Gaţu is the one who makes all the games. If Deva was instead of Rapid, they wouldn’t have changed anything", complained then the president from Cetate Deva, Marian Munteanu.

3. "He changed the rules the way he wanted!"
Mihai Făgărăşanu, the deputy manager from CSŞ 1 Constanţa, was part of the Administration Council of FRH in the mandate 2001-2005. "Gaţu dictated everything, he didn’t respect our opinions. He has his trustful people and they changed the rules arbitrarily. Mihai Marinescu, the secretary general, Remus Drăgănescu, the federal coach, the bookkeeper Mariana Cătuţi, Popa Săviştean, the referee Toma Pleşa and even Gheorghe Tadici voted as he indicated. Tadici reacted against sometimes", says Făgărăşanu. "I made scandal many times, but i was taken away. Gaţu is guided by the law ", added Făgărăşanu.

4. The sponsors of the federation, the teams in the championship
"Gaţu has always blustered that he is a good manager, that he brought money in the federation. This is true, but let’s look which were the main sponsors of the federation. These were the teams in the championship, at masculine and feminine: Oltchim, Constanţa, Reşiţa, Cluj, Steaua, the most potent from the financial point of view", says Mihai Făgărăşanu. He is completed by Marcel Popescu. "The poles of the power changed in accordance with the teams which had given money to the federation. When Constanţa was advantaged, they subscribed; when Mr. Cazacu appeared at Steaua, then Steaua was advantaged. We won the championship when Vasile Turcu was sponsor at Dinamo. Then we had the most money", declared Popescu.

""The leaders from FRH together with Gaţu arranged the corruption act. We need to make a change, a general cleaning at the federation"
Cornel Oţelea, former world champion

5. Higher bonuses given to the boys to the girls’ detriment
Even if the feminine national team, by its results was the one which kept the Romanian handball alive, Cristian Gaţu and the other officials have always favoured the masculine representative. "How is it possible that the boys, for the qualification at the World Championship, to receive bonuses of five thousand euro and we, after the 4th place at the World Championship from France, in 2007, to receive two thousand euro for each one", complained the players in the past. Even Tadici made a scandal when he was the spotter of the national feminine team, reproaching those from the federation the differences between the two representatives.