Prosecutor General Alexandr Stoianoglo offered details about the illegal scheme that had been practiced for years at the partly state-owned company Metalferos.

According to him, Metalferos had established a monopoly on the scrap metal market and worked exclusively with a number of favored companies. These companies would receive $280 for each metric ton of scrap metal. The money would be cashed based on fake contracts with individual suppliers, usually from the Transnistrian region. In reality, however, the scrap metal was bought from local collectors at a price of $150 a ton. The difference would be pocketed by the suspects.

Over the years, the government was thus defrauded of 1.2 billion lei, Stoianoglo told a press conference.

The investigation also established that, during 2012-2019, the fugitive oligarch Vlad Plahotniuc ran a parallel scheme, where he would buy through his non-resident companies scrap metal from Metalferos and would then resell it for a 27% profit.

Two weeks ago, prosecutors apprehended 16 people believed to be involved in the scheme, but the court rejected the prosecutors’ request to put them under preventive arrest.

Stoianoglo deplores this fact, given the severity of the crime, and accuses judges of appearing to create “impediments every time Vladimir Plahotniuc’s interests are affected.”

“I called (judges) out for such impediments before, for example, when prosecutors requested Plahotniuc’s arrest in absentia, or sought judicial authorization to seize his assets, or to search the former Democratic Party headquarters, or arrest people involved in the bank fraud. I can anticipate the judges’ response: they will say there is not enough evidence. But this is a sterile excuse,” stated Stoianoglo.

“The last thing I want is a confrontation with the judicial system. I categorically don’t want to encroach on judicial independence. But in this situation, I reserve the right to put forward proposals for a radical change in the judicial system. I don’t want this to be perceived as a threat, but in a democratic society, the judiciary must serve the law and the people, not bosses with narrow interests,” declared Stoianoglo.