Controversial statements at hearing on casino law

The controversy over the law regulating the entrepreneurial activities by licensing, which is also called the casino law, goes on. MPs Mihai Ghimpu, of the Liberal Party, and Veaceslav Ionita, of the Liberal Democratic Party, attack each other. Ionita said he did a favor to Ghimpu, while the latter accuses him of pursuing hidden goals, Info-Prim Neo reports. The MPs were questioned by the parliamentary commission that is investigating the circumstances in which there was passed the disputed amendment, whereby the tax for casinos was halved from 360,000 lei to 180,000 lei. During the hearing, Veaceslav Ionita, who heads the parliamentary commission on economy, budget and finance, said he personally and the lawmakers of the commission he leads were categorically against including the amendment proposed by unaffiliated MP Veaceslav Untila in the law. He said that he does not know how this amendment was incorporated into the law in the Parliament’s sitting after the law was adopted. The MP said the Prime Minister later sent a letter to the legislative body, asking for explanations over the given amendment. Mihai Ghimpu, who was then Head of Parliament, transmitted the letter to the commission on economy, budget and finance for writing explanations. According to Veaceslav Ionita, when the letter with explanations was to be sent back to Mihai Ghimpu the term of 30 days within which an answer was to be provided to the Premier was close to expiration. Veaceslav Ionita said that in order not to put Mihai Ghimpu into an unfavorable situation he sent the letter directly to Vlad Filat only with his signature. “I made a mistake when I decided to do a favor to Mihai Ghimpu as the deadline for giving an answer was expiring,” said the commission’s chairman. On the other hand, the leader of the Liberal Party Mihai Ghimpu said his only guilt was that he signed the law without reading it as this implied a huge physical effort. He stressed yet that Veaceslav Ionita was conscious when the amendment was incorporated into the law. Ghimpu also said that Ionita intentionally sent the letter saying the amendment was included legally to the Prime Minister only with his signature. The sitting’s shorthand reports say the amendment was included without being passed. “Mister Ionita accepted the proposal made by Untila after the law was adopted. Thus, this shows that Ionita pursued certain aims. He sent the letter to the Premier by avoiding me on purpose as he thought he would talk to Vlad Filat who is a party colleague. He now should answer before the law,” said Mihai Ghimpu. Raisa Apolschii, the head of the commission of inquiry, said all the conclusions of the hearing will be made public later. Afterward, the report will be presented in Parliament. She said that Veaceslav Ionita did not have the right to send a letter to the Premier only with his signature. The disputed amendment caused damage to the country’s budget assessed at about 6 million lei. This February, the Parliament restored the old tax for casinos.