Fiodor Ghelici, chairman of the commission for public control of the Civil Society Council that works under the President of the Republic of Moldova, said the stolen US$ 1 billion will not be returned as long as the administration and the structure of the bodies that investigate the fraud are not changed, while those to blame are not punished.
In a news conference at IPN, Fiodor Ghelici said that after analyzing the documents and answers from state institutions, he concluded that the investigation of the banking fraud is very slow and does not involve the responsible persons, the participants in this crime, while the evidence is hidden. The law enforcement bodies intentionally hide the real information about the persons involved in the theft of the US$ 1 billion so that these are easily blackmailed for political purposes later.
Fiodor Ghelici also said that no leu has been actually returned. The people were witness to an act of sabotage on the part of the parliamentary alliance when a lawsuit was filed to compensate for the toxic loans. “These things make us believe that the investigation is intentionally delayed so that the statutes of limitations pass and those to blame are not identified,” stated the activist.
In the name of civil society, Iulia Deleu, a member of the commission for public control, called on the governments of the U.S. and the EU member states to become involved in identifying the offenders and restoring the money stolen from Moldova’s banking system so as not to discredit real democracy and human rights.
The theft of the US$ 1 billion was possible through dubious schemes implemented at Banca de Economii, Unibank and Banca Sociala by issuing non-performing loans and aggressively attracting bank deposits from the population and by subsequently asking for emergency loans from the National Bank. In September 2016, by assuming responsibility, the Government approved the conversion of the guarantees issued in 2014 and 2015 for the emergency loans totaling 13.5 billion lei into state debts.
