Businessman Iurii Ceban, who says he owns the hangar situated in Criuleni district, reported that a group of enthusiasts did technical tests on mock-ups, not on helicopters, as the police called them in press releases. The man noted he holds patents on different technical solutions for fuselage models that were perceived as helicopters by the law. The mock-ups were fully assembled with minimum expenses, IPN reports.

“I would even say “thank you” for the advertising on the future aircraft. But with such state attitude to inventions and testing of technical solutions, we started to have doubts already. After the persons in uniforms practically “cleaned” our hangar on June 30, we doubt not only that we can produce in Moldova, but also can invent something without being subject to pressure on the part of the forces,” Iurii Ceban says in an open letter that is quoted by IPN.

According to the entrepreneur, any qualified building engineer can confirm that any mock-up, called helicopters by prosecutors, to fly safely or to be bought by someone, needs to be tested for a long period of time and necessitates certification procedures that last for years. “It is a long path from the development of technical solutions, which is what we do now, to ordinary production as the process implies certification and obtaining of numerous local and international licenses and permissive documents,” said the businessman, noting one cannot say that a hangar that is over 10 meters in height and is located in a visible place in Răculești village, about which locals know, cannot be called clandestine

“I admit that we thought to attract investments in the future to launch production, which is full assembly in Moldova of helicopters for small civil aviation. But this is not as easy as the prosecutors fancy in their press releases. With such campaigns, the prosecutors can scare any investor. But I don’t know the reasons for which someone decided to reduce to zero the idea of the future helicopter production in Moldova.”

Iurii Ceban also said that friends of his family and relatives worked in the hangar. After persons with balaclavas paid a visit to the hangar, some of them were remanded in custody. They are suspected of taking parts for helicopters into and out of the country illegally. But these were actually bought on the domestic market.