Chisinau councilor accused of taking €30,000 for influencing sale of municipal plot

The public anticorruption committee of the Association for the Protection of Civil Rights “Adjuta Cives” demands that the Chisinau administration take steps to prevent corruption in the organization and holding of auctions to sell and lease out municipal land, Info-Prim Neo reports. In a news conference on Wednesday, representatives of the organization said they were informed by residents of Chisinau about the artificial barrier existing in the Architecture and Land Relations Division, which hinders the sale-purchase or lease out of plots. They said several local councilors are behind this scheme, including Corneliu Pantea, the anticorruption committee’s deputy head Alexandru Procop stated. According to the information of “Adjuta Cives”, Corneliu Pantea influences his colleagues from the Council in order to obtain the number of votes needed to approve decisions concerning the sale of plots by auction. The councilor would have contributed to the auctioning of a plot that is 35 ares in area at the price of 100,000 lei and received €30,000 for this service. The public anticorruption committee of the Association for the Protection of Civil Rights “Adjuta Cives” requests the municipal authorities to open inquiries into the given cases. Members of the committee say councilors encourage similar illegal schemes in other settlements as well. Contacted by Info-Prim, Corneliu Pantea denied the accusations.