A bătut mingea cu surorile Williams
În prezentare, ardeleanul menționează că este cetățean american și că, revenit în România acum 13 ani, a investit un milion de dolari în baza pe care o deține la Sibiu. Ca să fie mai convingător, le reamintește celor care conduc tenisul mondial că a pregătit-o pe rusoaica Elena Dementieva, dar și că a bătut mingea cu surorile Venus și Serena Williams.
Marius Vecerdea o menționează pe Simona Halep și scrie că perechea prezidențială Carmen și Klaus Iohannis a învățat tenis la clubul său, afiliat FRT. Cei doi sunt membri ai clubului Pamira.
În scrisoarea propriu-zisă, Vecerdea, membru afiliat al federației, solicită ITF să intervină, pentru a lămuri situația juridică dificilă de la Federația Română de Tenis, care pierde procese pe bandă rulandă, dar refuză punerea lor în executare, potrivit tehnicianului sibian.
”Eforturile Simonei Halep, exploatate de indivizi fără scrupule”
”Există sentințe definitive împotriva conducerii federației, dar nu sunt respectate și se încalcă articole din Constituția ITF. Demersurile mele sunt direcționate în apărarea intereselor jucătorilor români, în frunte cu Simona Halep, a căror eforturi și, în final, succese sunt subminate și exploatate de niște indivizi fără scrupule și fără niciun fel de transparență! În numele românilor, întreb încă o dată acești asa-ziși reprezentanti ai FRT: ce sume sunt primite de la ITF, cine sunt exact beneficiarii și cum exact se cheltuie aceste sume. Mai ales în condițiile în care Simona Halep a renunțat la orice sumă pentru reprezentarea României!
Federația de la București poate fi suspendată, cu consecința scoaterii din Fed Cup. Solicitarea mea este una singură către ITF: obligați FRT să-și constituie un Comitet de Urgență care să poată reprezenta România legal! Nu am nimic cu sportivii, care pot deveni victime colaterale. Se va relua retorica: Vecerdea face rău tenisului românesc, dar cine înțelege – bine, cine nu – să fie sănătos. Ce vină am eu că federația română nu respectă legile în vigoare și nu pune în aplicare sentințe definitive și irevocabile ale instanțelor de judecată?”, a specificat Vecerdea, pentru ”Libertatea”. Ardeleanul a trimis scrisoarea și conducerii FRT, precum și MTS.
România este calificată în semifinalele Fed Cup, urmând să înfrunte Franța, pe 20-21 aprilie, la Rouen.
Vă prezentăm scrisoarea de prezentare a lui Vecerdea, care este finul președintelui țării, precum și notificarea completă trimisă de patronul clubului Pamira către ITF.
Dear Mr. President, David HaggertyDear members of the Board of Directors,To whom it may concern,Please find attached to the present email, an Important document stating about facts and situations in regards with the Romanian Tennis Federation, the sports structure and organisation that is the member Class B allotted 3 Class B shares to represent and vote into the Annual General Meeting of the ITF.I am Marius Vecerdea, the President of Tennis Club Pamira Association, one of the most prestigious affiliated members of the Romanian Tennis Federation. I am a USA citizen as well as a Romanian citizen and the Director of the most important Tournament in Romania at this moment: Sibiu Open – ATP Challeger organizing its 8th Edition this year.Between 1997 and 2006 I worked at different tennis clubs in Florida and I was an Official WTA Coach at more than 10 Grand Slams as the coach of a few Top 100 players starting with Alina Jidkova and Elena Dementieva, as well as hitting partner to Serena and Venus Williams.As a USA Citizen I decided to move back to Romania 13 years ago, and contributed substantially for the development, growth and the promotion of tennis as following:– I personally invested more than one million dollars for the construction of a Tennis Facility in the city of Sibiu;– As the President of the Tennis Club Pamira, I initiated and developed divers tennis programs dedicated to all levels from beginners to professional players and also to all social categories of people from low level to very high level income;– I am organizing very divers tennis events from mini-tournaments between elementary and high schools, all the way to ATP Challengers with players from Top 100, including players formerly ranked Top 10. One of the most popular event is the Sibiu Open Kids Day, where I involved the most popular personalities of the country starting with The President and the First Lady of Romania, Klaus and Carmen Iohannis. (TC Pamira is the place where they learned for the first time to play tennis and they are honored members of the club).– 5 years ago, at the Annual General Meeting of the Romanian Tennis Federation I was voted as the President of the Special Commission for the future modern Constitution of the Romanian Tennis Federation, and I started to work to improve and to modernize the Articles of Association and Bye-Laws of the Romanian Tennis Federation. (RTF)Starting in 2015, after the Board of Directors of the RTF refused to present for the vote into the AGM Council, the Resolution of the Modern Constitution Commission, undermining the work of one year of the Commission and most of all, undermining the opportunity to have the highest levels of integrity, Governance and Transparency put into a modern Constitution, that could have been following the Vision, Ambition and Purpose of the ITF as stated in the New Agenda ITF 2024 voted at the AGM in Zagreb 2016, I started to take serious actions in regards with stopping the ILLEGAL way of the governance of the Romanian Tennis Federation and this way trying to change the very non-transparent way of leading the RTF, and also trying to transfer my knowledge and experience acquired from years of work in USA and other countries.After taking the Resolutions of the AGM’s of the Romanian Tennis Federation to the justice and after 13 judges in the past 2-3 years issued Court Decisions or Sentences stating that the AGM’s are organised ILLEGALLY and canceled or revoked in total all the decisions and resolutions of the AGM’s Council, after I did address the issue to 5 Ministers of Sports from 5 different Government Cabinets, I finally decided to address this issue to the ITF, with the possible (not wishful but truly regretfully) consequence that the ITF may take some actions against the Romanian Tennis Federation and with the hope to protect the Romanian players, including Simona Halep which became one of the symbols of Romania.In conclusion, I would like to bring into your attention the situation created with the Romanian Tennis Federation, as one of the Class B member of the ITF, but most of all, the fact that all the 5 members of the Board of Directors, represent ILLEGALLY the Romanian Tennis Federation, as stated by the Highest Appeal Court of Romania – Appeal Court of Bucharest!!!The Notification attached as a document to the present email, plays the role of notifying the ITF that the funds sent to the Romanian Tennis Federation in regards with the Federation Cup as well as all the documents signed in the name of the Romanian Tennis Federation will be the subject to the Suprem Court of Romania.After reading the document attached, please take URGENT actions and approach the matter carefully in order to help establish the best solutions for the extremely difficult situation, considering that the RTF did not respect one of the most important Article of the ITF Constitution (Art. 3 letter a, from the Articles of Association of ITF) in regards with the obligation of RTF to advice the ITF about the fundamental change of the ability of the RTF to remain a properly constituted sports body, also considering that RTF may fall under the consequences of Art. 4 (e) in regards with the provisional suspension from Membership because it’s autonomy is very compromised. Also, we hope for some good solutions in order to protect the players and the people that respect the integrity of the game of tennis, also the people involved truly into the development and the growth of the game.Please do not hesitate to contact me at any time in regards with this matter, and also take into consideration the fact that I am fully available and dedicated even to travel to one of the ITF Offices in order to bring all the available documents issued by the justice Courts of Romania and also to discuss all other details in regards with all the actions I brought into the justice for the past 3 years.Thank YouWith all due respects, looking forward to hear from youPS: For full transparency I did attached in CC, the official email address of the Romanian Tennis Federation as well as the email addresses known as the former members of the Board of Directors of Romanian Tennis Federation and nevertheless the address of the Minister of Sports from Romania.Marius VecerdeaPresident of Tennis Club Pamira AssociationDirector of Sibiu Open – ATP Challenger
TO: INTERNATIONAL TENNIS FEDERATION
Bank Lane Roehampton
London, United Kingdom
+44 (0)20 8878 6464
NOTIFICATION OF BREACH OF THE ITF CONSTITUTION
SPECIAL REQUEST TO SUPPORT OUR INITIATIVE
Dear Mr. President David Haggerty
To the Board of Directors,
To whom it may concern,
As one of the affiliated member of the Romanian Tennis Federation, but most of all, as one of the most active association dedicated to the growth of tennis in Romania and also dedicated to the effort to respect the integrity, good governance and especially the transparency in sports, we are addressing the present Notification to the International Tennis Federation, and hopping to establish a positive communication in order to get the international support needed to resolve a very difficult situation.
The Romanian Tennis Federation was governed for the past 18 years, since it was transformed into a so called “private association”, in a way that it is not compatible with the vision and purpose of the ITF, even though the Bye-Laws of RTF specify explicitly that the rules have to be written accordingly and respect the ITF Constitution (Articles of Association and Bye-Laws of ITF).
There are three main principles that were constantly broken through all this years, hand in hand, by the Romanian Tennis Federation and also by the Sports Minister – as the institution linked and subordinated directly to the Romanian Government:
1) Guarantee of the free, independent and non-political controlled elections
2) Transparency
3) Respect to the rule of law
In order to present a detailed image of the mode this three important principles were broken constantly, please take into consideration a dedicated meeting with a special commission of ITF, or at least an ITF representative that can take the time to observe the numerous documents we obtained in the past 3 years, especially the Resolutions, Decisions and Sentences issued by the Romanian judicial system: Tribunals, Appeal Courts, Supreme Appeal Court of Bucharest, stating that the Romanian Tennis Federation was acting unlawfulness and totally against the law.
In a brief description of the situation, please be advice that in the past two years and a half, starting with July 2016, there are 13 judges that pronounced sentences against the Romanian Tennis Federation stating in their motivations and justifications that RTF issued illegal documents and broke the law.
Through the final sentences of the Supreme Appeal Court of Romania in Bucharest, no less than 3 (three) General Meetings of the Romanian Tennis Federation were considered illegal, and more than that, all the Resolutions of the Council voted in the General Meetings were definitive considered null, revoked or canceled!!! More precisely, An Annual General Meeting, An Extraordinary General Meeting and even an Election General Meeting were canceled and considered null by the Sentences issued by the Justice Courts!!!
The Annual General Meeting of 2016 was considered null after such sentence, with the consequences of a total nullity of all the decisions voted by the AGM and written in the Resolution of the AGM Council, including but not limited to the Statement of Accounts for the 2015 financial year (not audited!!!) and also the Contract for more than one million US Dollars received and spent from public funds (National Budget) directly from the Government through the Minister of Sports!!!
The Extraordinary General Meeting from October 2016 was also considered null after a sentence of the Romanian Tribunal of Bucharest became definitive in January 2019!!!
The Election General Meeting from June 2016 was also considered null after a sentence of the Tribunal of Bucharest and after the Supreme Appeal Court of Bucharest maintained the first sentence of the Tribunal, in March 2018.
Also, other 3 (three) solicitations of the RTF to legalize the Resolutions of the Council approved and voted at the AGMs were rejected definitive by the Courts and/or Tribunals with the justifications of unlawful actions of the RTF, but most important for the fact that many delegates at the General Meeting voted without having the right to vote!!! or because the AGM did not have the Authorization of the Minister of Sports. We specify that the Government Authorization is needed according with the law because the Romanian Tennis Federation is fully financed from public funds, also because RTF uses and exploits the National Tennis Center belonging to the State and being a public facility and also because RTF exploits the events of the Romanian Teams Competitions such as Davis Cup and Fed Cup and receives important funds from ITF in the name of Romania.
Nevertheless, there is absolutely NO transparency in regards with the funds used by the Federation, including but not limited in regards with the funds RTF receives from ITF for the Fed Cup results and most importantly the way the funds are governed and spent.
One of the most important issue is the fact that the actual members of the Board of Directors headed by Cosac George, are representing illegal the Romanian Tennis Federation signing the documents in the name of the Federation without having these rights!!!
Please be advised that, in order to have the full rights as a representant of the Romanian Tennis Federation in relations with third parties, the law of Romania provides that the newly elected members of the Board of Directors shall be registered into the National Special Register held by the Tribunal. In January 2019 the Supreme Appeal Court of Bucharest issued a DEFINITIVE AND IRREVOCABLE Decision (after more than one year of contestations and appeals in the justice, leaded by our Association) stating that the members of the Board of Directors (Council of Directory – the administrating body with the rights of representing Romanian Tennis Federation in the relations with third parties, especially ITF), elected at the last AGM cannot be Registered legally according with the way the AGM for elections was conducted!!!
In conclusion, we request the ITF to ask the persons trying to represent Romanian Tennis Federation, to declare in written, under the incidents of the law, that they are legally representing the Romanian Tennis Federation in the relations to third parties, especially with the ITF.
Also, we request to ask the, so called “officials” of the Romanian Tennis Federation to fulfill the obligations written in the Articles of Association of ITF at Art. 3 letter a), to advise the ITF about the fundamental change in its ability to meet the requirements of operating as a properly constituted sports body.
Please be advised that the Decision of the Supreme Appeal Court mentioned above, states that the newly elected members of the Board of Directors (Council of Directory as the administration body, provided in the law that regulates the free right to associate written in the Romanian Constitution) of a National Sports Federation in Romania, represents a modification of the Constitutive Act and should be treated as such in respect with the Romanian law, more precisely it represents one of the most important facts about the operating of the Romanian Tennis Federation as a properly and legally constituted sports body!!!
Last, but not at least, we request full support from the ITF, to take urgent actions in order to urge the former members of the Board of Directors which mandates expired in July 2017, when the legal time of their mandate was fulfilled as stated in the bye-laws of RTF, to cooperate and to understand the gravity of the situation and most of all the risks of suspension from the ITF, and to allow the Free and Legal Elections to take place as soon as possible, respecting the Sentences of the Supreme Appeal Court and the Tribunal of Bucharest, in order to have the Romanian Tennis Federation as a properly and legally constituted body, so we can further more be a Class B member of the ITF with the full ability to compete in the Team Competitions organized and governed by the ITF.
We also would like to refer to this important issue, in a way that the players representing Romania, are continuously supported by ITF actions. The ITF shall be advised that the unbelievable success of the female tennis players of Romania, is the result of the great effort of their families, personal coaches and very close friends giving financial support, and that regretfully, IT IS NOT THE RESULT OF THE GOOD GOVERNANCE OF THE TENNIS FEDERATION. But at least we can do is to help the players fully benefit from their effort, and not letting others to illegally take advantage of their work, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY change the way the Romanian Tennis Federation is governed and make sure in the future the principles the RTF will be governed, will be in accordance with the VISION, AMBITION AND PURPOSE OF THE ITF, with the final result of truly develop and grow the game of tennis in Romania, at all levels and addressing to all social categories.
With all due respect The date of: 3rd of March, 2019
Marius Vecerdea
Tennis Club Pamira of Sibiu – President
Sibiu Open – ATP Challenger – Director