The National University of Defence “Carol I” will review Lucian Pahonțu’s doctoral thesis following a complaint regarding suspicions of plagiarism

The Ethics Committee of the National Defense University “Carol I” will analyze suspicions of plagiarism in the doctoral thesis of Lucian Pahonțu, head of the Protection and Guard Service (SPP). The institution confirmed to PressOne that a committee was formed following a complaint, and that the legal deadline for resolving the case is 45 days.

Pahonțu defended his thesis in 2003, at the Academy of Higher Military Studies, with a paper on the defense of a state’s important objectives. He became director of the SPP in 2005. According to a Recorder investigation, the paper allegedly contains more than 30% text copied without citing the source, including from a document of the former Securitate. The journalists claim to have identified 210 identical lines, spread across 13 pages, from the 1976 Regulation of the Security Troops.

Recorder says that the thesis includes excerpts taken from 12 works, including works by three members of the committee that evaluated it in 2003: Gheorghe Toma, Valentin Arsenie, and Tudor Cearapin. In total, this would amount to approximately 99 lines.

The university stated that the thesis had not previously been checked using similarity-analysis software, although this procedure is required by an order issued by the Minister of Education in 2021. The committee is to determine whether the suspicions are confirmed and what legal measures are warranted.