Premium
Businessman Ion Tiriac commented, on Thursday, on his collaboration with the former communist political police Securitate while he was a tennis player participating in tournaments abroad, as his engagement with this institution, bearing his signature, has been published online in the recent days, told Agerpres.
He mentioned that in those years it was normal to report back to the country every time he left to participate in tournaments abroad.
"Look into my eyes, have I ever lied to you? I didn't have a Securitate file. 'Mr. Minister Rus, take out the file so I can see it,' I said, but he replied: 'Mr. Tiriac, yo do not have one.' 'How could I not have one since I was a militiaman and for 30 years I was a privileged person in this country. At that time I had a passport that you did not have.' And I used to leave country, and came back, and left again. And they asked me: 'Comrade Tiriac, where have you been?' 'Well, I went to Washington for the tournament'... 'And what did you do there?' So I had to give a report when I came back. And I said that I played tennis. 'But besides tennis, what else did you see there?'... 'Have you been to Kennedy's house?'... and I said 'Well, you already know this. The CIA has known about this for ten years, so you also must have known for ten years.' 'And what did you do there?' 'I made sausages and played American football.' What I mean is that all these things [were reported - editor's note]. And then, guess what, my file did appear, saying that I was Titi Vivilica or something like this [Titi Ionescu - editor's note]. But, brothers, those people also needed to write down something. I have no idea what exactly, for I even laughed when I read that now. 'Costica Nastase [Ilie Nastase - editor's note] exchanged 1,000 US dollars at the Hilton in Athenes from lei into US dollars' ... but we only had 20 US dollars, so where did the 1,000 come from? We didn't even know what dollars look like. But that's not the problem. What bothers me is ... who ordered him to do this, who gave the order ... it's some jerk who is also an athlete, I don't want to give names, for I am a friend of Vizer. I am a friend of Vizer and I am a big president. But what bothers me, to conclude, is that: 'The comrade' is a good comrade, he is a patriot, but he is not a good comrade, he won't cooperate.' How can I not cooperate? I cooperated with everyone, but they did not want to have me in the Securitate. They kept me at the Militia because it was paying 20 lei less. But I don't have such problems," said Tiriac, who attended the launch of a selection programme for the Tiriac Foundation's hokey teams at the Otopeni Ice Rink.
A few days ago, a document signed by Ion Tiriac on June 11, 1963, was published in the online media, through which the former tennis player made a commitment to help the Securitate with information from his travels abroad. The document states that Ion Tiriac signed the report notes under the name of Titi Ionescu.
