Former Prime Minister Iurie Leanca and ex-chairman of the parliamentary commission on economy, budget and finance Veaceslav Ionita were questioned as witnesses in the April 8 hearing in the case of ex-Premier Vlad Filat, alongside other witnesses. Prosecutor Adriana Betisor said the questioned witnesses confirmed the prosecution’s version. However, the defense considers the testimonies do not have sufficient corroborative value, IPN reports.
“The testimonies of these witnesses support our accusations, especially as regards the influence that Vladimir Filat had on these persons who held public posts in 2013, when additional shares were issued at Banca de Economii. As a result of that influence, Shor gained control of the shares of Banca de Economii so that the accused could ultimately benefit from the money withdrawn from BEM,” stated Adriana Betisor.
Lawyer Igor Popa said the testimonies of the given witnesses are not convincing enough for substantiating the prosecution’s charges. “Vlad Filat has repeatedly stated publicly and politically his opinion about the necessity of taking particular actions to remedy the situation in the finical-banking sector. Mister Leanca and other officials stated the same opinion. But this does not mean that Vlad Filat gave illegal instructions to particular decision-makers,” he stated. Igor Popa considers that the questioned witnesses said nothing new and their statements do not add corroborative value to the cease.
The lawyer said the last witnesses for the prosecution will be questioned next week and he hopes that the hearings will afterward become public as the prosecution witnesses will not be exposed to the risk of being influenced or intimidated, as the prosecutors assert.
After the hearing, Iurie Leanca told the press that he informed the court about the measures he took after he found out that the situation in the financial-banking system was worsening. In the autumn of 2014 he called meetings with representatives of such institutions as the National Bank of Moldova, the Prosecutor General’s Office and the National Anticorruption Center. “We considered possibilities of stopping the growth of the gap that appeared then and of punishing those who contributed to this fraud. Regretfully, the situation continued to worsen. We thus asked for an investigation when we ascertained that he situation was going out of control,” he stated.
Veaceslav Ionita said he provided information about the frauds committed in the banking system and this is the information that he already made public. Those facts were furnished to him within the parliamentary commission that he headed in that period. “As chairman of the commission, I transmitted relevant information about the bad loans at BEM to the National Anticorruption Center,” he stated.
The next hearing in the case of Vlad Filat was set for April 12, 10:30am.
