Agurdino majority shareholder accuses Interior Ministry of staging fake assassination attempt

Yuri Bogdanov, Agurdino’s majority shareholder and general manager, accuses the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of staging a fake operation to prevent an attempt on his life. Yuri Bogdanov told a news conference today that he was driven by the police into the woods at night and instructed to lie down and play dead to fake his murder. The businessman believes that MIA’s services were contracted by certain criminal groups operating in Moldova, which are keen to see Bogdanov sell his €14 million business. Bogdanov refuted the police’s hypothesis that the alleged attempt was planned by Supraten, a company rivalling Agurdino. In his words, a large company like Supraten would never resort to a contract killing to achieve a goal. Agurdino’s manager believes that those who want him renounce his business do not plan a takeover, but strive for the land accommodating Agurdino’s facilities. Bogdanov said that ever since he started running his business in Moldova in 1999, he has been taken to court for nearly 60 times by the Moldovan authorities, but that didn’t made him surrender. Some of these cases reached the Tribunal in Stockholm and the European Court of Human Rights. Requested by President Voronin, who gave his word that the company would not be troubled by the authorities, Bogdanov withdrew his complaints from the international courts. However, this summer MIA renewed its attacks, the businessman says. Yuri Bogdnov, a Russian citizen holding an 82 percent stake in the Chisinau-based chemicals manufacturer Agurdino, said he made an appeal to the Russian Embassy for help and protection.