The chairman of the Parliament’s commission on security, defense and public order Lilian Carp said he expects the case of unjust enrichment involving a number of former MPs will have an end result.  Moreover, to show that they are impartial, the prosecutors should examine also the property of other MPs who switched the parliamentary groups. The MP made reference to the former MPs of the PLDM, who joined the parliamentary group of the PDM. The former leader of the Lib-Dems Viorel Cibotaru noted that the phenomenon of political corruption is extremely dangerous for the Republic of Moldova and discredits the whole political class, IPN reports.

The five MPs who were arrested for 72 hours on suspicion on unjust enrichment are Artur Reshetnikov, Anatolie Zagorodnyi, Violeta Ivanov, Vladimir Vitiuc, and Sergiu Sîrbu. Representatives of the government welcome prosecutors’ actions, saying they expect other MPs who took bribe to switch parties will also be punished.

“I expect more actions, not only against the 14 MPs who were today mentioned as suspects in the unjust enrichment case. In fact, these are turncoats who formed part of the PCRM, later of the PDM, Pro Moldova and from Pro Moldova they defected to Șor Party. We have five years since when these persons switched a number of parties and no longer hold executive posts and the luxury in which they live is the only proof that can be used. But not only these MPs switched parties. The Prosecutor’s Office should prove that there is consistency and this case is much more complex than it seems,” Lilian Carp stated in the program “Emphasis on Today” on TVR Moldova channel.

The former president of the PLDM Viorel Cibotaru said the Lib-Dems were also lured with exorbitant sums and influenced to join the PDM’s parliamentary group.

“There is also the case of the MPs who left the PLDM. I, as the former president of the PLDM, talked to them and they promised they would not betray the team, but immediately after the Constitutional Court validated their seats, they announced in Parliament that they left the PLDM’s group and then boasted to mates that they cleared debts of 75,000 lei and bought a car. Corruption in the Republic of Moldova became a threat to national security. It is good that the necessary legislative instruments were found for these people to be held accountable,” said Viorel Cibotaru.

The unjust enrichment case involves 14 former MPs who in 2015 left the PCRM and created the Social-Democratic platform “For Moldova” that later joined the Democratic parliamentary group.