On Prime Minister Valeriu Strelets's request, the Cabinet today decided to dismiss Alexandru Ciobanu from the post of deputy director of the National Food Safety Agency ANSA, following a journalistic investigation.

“Recently the Agency has been the subject of reports in the media, related in particular to the issuing of phyto-sanitary certificates for food exports. I talked twice to the person in question, but I haven't seen any change of attitude. So I asked ANSA acting director Grigore Porcescu to initiate the dismissal procedure against the deputy director Alexandru Ciobanu. The decision will take effect as soon as he returns from a sick leave”, said Strelets.

Alexandru Ciobanu was mentioned in two articles published by the investigative journalism project RISEMoldova. The first reported about ANSA's practice of selectively issuing food export certificates, and the second was based on an audio recording in which Ciobanu was heard attempting to intimidate the journalist conducting the investigation.