from the Petromidia company, then under investigation by Prosecutors, and asked the President to "talk about it" during a scheduled visit at the Prosecutor's Office. Băsescu stated: "Such type of partnership was unacceptable to me ... it would have meant that nothing had changed in Romania after the elections." On the subsequent reaction of the Prime Minister, Băsescu said: "The Prime Minister was consequent. and absolutely not naïve." According to Băsescu, Tăriceanu phoned the Prosecutor General of Romania, then tried to put further pressure through a specially dedicated speech to the Parliament on 8 November 2006, and tried "the same thing" with Justice Minister Monica Macovei, arranging a meeting with a businessman at the Government Palace. In response, the Prime Minister declared that the matter was just an attempt to hide "what is going on at Cotroceni and around it," and publicly accused Băsescu of facilitating contracts to companies "close to him". According to the Prime Minister, the newly appointed PD Transportation Minister told a businessman: "The President sent me to take care of you." He also stated that Băsescu wanted to put the Department for Administration of State Heritage and Protocol under the control of the family of Elena Udrea. Băsescu immediately asked Tăriceanu to produce evidence to support his claims, to send it to the Prosecutor's Office, and to remove the ministers allegedly involved. "If the Prime Minister does not produce such proof, the President considers that these statements are without substance and are of such a nature as to distract the public attention from his own deed," a Presidential communiqué stated. Dinu Patriciu, an influential businessman and PNL member, stated on a public TV station that, in his opinion, Tăriceanu's note was a "friendly gesture, a sign of normality". Patriciu also said that in a discussion with Băsescu in October 2005, he was advised to invest in any country in the Black Sea basin except Russia. According to Patriciu, Băsescu said " ... because we must do so that Russians invest in Romania, in order to have them hostages, because we certainly will have a conflict with Russia". Furthermore, Dan Voiculescu, a member of the opposition, accused the president of influence peddling, producing a note by Băsescu to a minister, which, as Voiculescu claimed, was a request to support selling cheap energy to the ALRO company, in which PDL leader Theodor Stolojan was a stockholder. The note