The Mayor General of Chisinau municipality Dorin Chirtoaca was arrested by anticorruption prosecutors and officers of the National Anticorruption Center on suspicion of influence peddling in the case of the pay parking lots in the evening of May 25. The mayor will be held at the Center’s remand prison for 72 hours, IPN reports.
In a press release, the National Anticorruption Center says that as a result of questioning, it was determined that the mayor instructed the deputy mayor of Chisinau, who was the chairman of the commission for selecting companies that were to build pay parking lots in Chisinau, to sign the contract with EME Parkleitsysteme GmbH without the consent of the Municipal Council.
In breach of the law, the mayor of Chisinau municipality accepted the urbanism certificates for designing works, in accordance with the public-private partnership contract between the Chisinau City Hall and the non-resident company EME Parkleitsysteme GmbH. For its part, this company won the tender contest as a result of concerted actions of officials of the City Hall, business entities and the businessman who managed EME Parkleitsysteme GmbH from behind.
As a result of a preliminary agreement between the businessman and the head of the Public Transport and Communications Division, with the latter playing the role of intermediary between the businessman and the mayor, the official of the City Hall registered an offshore company in Cyprus, which later became an associate of EME Parkleitsysteme GmbH with a shareholding of 26%.
26% of the company’s revenues were the reward for the signing of the public-private partnership contract between EME Parkleitsysteme GmbH and the Chisinau City Hall, 13% of which were to go to the mayor, while the other 13% to the head of the Public Transport and Communications Division.
After the company from Cyprus became an associate of EME Parkleitsysteme GmbH, the mayor instructed to invite bids and initiate the tender contest and the given company was chosen as a winner. The deputy mayor signed the contract and later the mayor authorized the start of designing works. The mayor thus committed traffic of influence, which carries a penalty of three to seven years in jail.
The National Anticorruption Center also arrested another nine persons. These include the secretary of the Chisinau Municipal Council, two councilors of the Council and six representatives of business entities that are suspected of passive corruption, influence peddling and misuse of power.
