It is not news that corruption, especially grand corruption, is a danger to the state and the people’s welfare. During the past 30 years, the citizens of the Republic of Moldova were systematically robbed by a group of criminals connected to politicians and the judiciary. The limitless desires of these thieves impoverished hundreds of thousands of people and made over 1 million people leave the country, President Maia Sandu said at the start of the first meeting of the Supreme Security Council (SSC) in its new composition.

According to Maia Sandu, nowhere in the world did they steal 12% of the GDP by one corruption scheme. Nowhere in the world did they launder amounts of money that are several times larger than the GDP. Meanwhile, the institutions that should fight corruption do nothing. The state institutions do not manage to or cannot deal with serious cases of corruption, while some of the cases are hushed up at high speed and it seems that some of the institution managers ignore the cases of corruption.

The official expressed her regret at the fact that some of those attending the SSC meeting do not see the direct connection between the fight against corruption and the development of the state. “Namely because no one in this country was ever punished for grand corruption, we cannot fight this corruption,” stated Maia Sandu.  She urged the managers of the institutions on which corruption fighting and the justice sector reform depend and who are involved in schemes of corruption to vacate their seats.

Maia Sandu noted that she has reservations as to the capacity of some of the representatives of the SSC delegated by law to take concrete decisions about issues related to state security and she reserves the right not to invite them to particular discussions when there is a risk of a conflict of interests.

According to Maia Sandu, the presidential administration is the most credible state institution and it has the right to ask why things do not move on and why the state institutions do not work according to law. She noted she will use her credibility to involve the law enforcement agencies of the EU and other states into the investigation of large-scale thefts.

The official proposed that the next meetings of the SSC should center on the “billion theft”, the concession of the Chisinau airport, the insurance sector, the appropriation of Moldova’s patrimony in Ukraine, the illegal financing of parties and election campaigns, the Russian Laundromat case, smuggling in tobacco products and anabolic steroids, illegal felling and the capacity to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.