Adrian Nastase, Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, made a surprising move when he opened Saturday to journalists his home on 16 Zambaccian street. Television networks used the footage extensively over the week-end, so one might say that Nastase hit the bullâs eye.
The setting for Nastase to make his case was his own home, for all to get his message across: that he had nothing to hide. Thus the mystery of a prosecutorsâ investigation was killed, and any subsequent official search would be regarded as a routine operation.
However, it rests to be seen if his move will prove in the end beneficial or not.
Nastase personally invited me, calling Friday afternoon and telling me that I was scheduled to make part of the print media group to enter his house at 5 p.m.; the television networks were scheduled for noon.
Though it was my first time on the Zambaccian street, locating the house was no problem since it was marked by television vehicles parked in front of it. Though a journalist myself, I did not get pass my colleagues without being interviewed on my expectations of the visit that was about to start.
Anca Alexandrescu, media adviser for Adrian Nastase, opened the gate to the property, behind which a tiny strip of land made the garden; understandably small too: land is worth its weight in gold in this part of Bucharest.
The entrance looked like one of a private medical clinic; two secret service officers just glanced at us. The lift was too small for all of us, so we went up to the third floor in groups of five.
The hosts welcomed us; they were Nastase, his wife Dana, and his sister, Dana Barb.
The first surprise was there were no hangers for the many coats.
I brought a lock made in China, as a present for the new home; it was covered in golden metal, so if prosecutors find it in their search I state in advance t