Mayor Dorin Chirtoaca admitted that there are corruption schemes at work in the allotment of parcels in the capital.
“It's the most corrupt public business. The allotment of parcels is an older problem, dating back to the 1990s. The explanation is the rather high prices of parcels in the capital, of 10,000-20,000 euros per 100 sq.m.”, said the mayor.
According to Chirtoaca, the leadership of the urbanism and architecture division was replaced and the head of the real estate division was sacked exactly because their involvement in fraudulent schemes of allotting municipal parcels for constructions. The latter is under investigation by the National Anticorruption Center for passive corruption.
The mayor thinks the solution is to employ persons with undisputed reputation in this field, to monitor more strictly the allotment of parcels and to cancel some organizations' rights to obtain for free parcels for the construction of apartment blocks.
There are several organizations under the impression that besides their basic functions they can also build apartment blocks. Everyone seems to be building around here – the “Waters of Moldova” agency, the Prosecutor's Office, the Police, and so on”, complained Chirtoaca.
Calling in, Cornelia Cozonac of the Investigative Journalism Center said that an ample investigation has recently revealed several fraudulent schemes of obtaining municipal parcels for private constructions, involving clerks and courts. Some schemes rent parcels to build social facilities or parking lots, then privatize them and raise other kinds of buildings instead.
According to a study by the “Expert-Grup” independent center, the Municipality has lost over 1 billion lei over the last 5 years because of the fraudulent management of public assets. In 2010-2014, 300 hectares were seized illegally and the city budget lost no less than 500 million lei.
