Ghimpu advises Ionita to resign following casino-related scandal

The Liberal Party head Mihai Ghimpu accuses the head of the commission on economy, budget and finance Veaceslav Ionita, who is a Liberal-Democrat MP, of falsifying records in the so-called law on casinos. In a news conference on Wednesday, Mihai Ghimpu advised Veaceslav Ionita to resign from the post of commission head and renounce the seat of lawmaker, Info-Prim Neo reports. According to Mihai Ghimpu, the amendments to the given law were passed in final reading last July, by the vote of 55 MPs. After the voting procedure, unaffiliated lawmaker Veacesalv Untila proposed that the tax for a casino table be halved, from 360,000 to 180,000 lei. Mihai Ghimpu said the given amendment could not be incorporated as the bill was adopted in final reading, but the Liberal-Democrat Veaceslav Ionita made related changes to the document after the legislative body’s sitting. The Liberal leader also said that after the amendment was included and the figures changed, he, as Head of Parliament in that period, demanded that Veaceslav Ionita provide explanations. But Ionita reported before the Government only. “Why didn’t Ionita present the report to the Head of Parliament? This shows that he intentionally changed the figures from 360,000 to 180,000 lei, causing thus damage of about 6 million lei to the budget,” Mihai Ghimpu said. He also said that the Communist MPs were the first who accused him of the damage caused to the state, but remained silent after they found out that he was not to blame. Mihai Ghimpu alluded that the PLDM has good relations with the PCRM and thus the Communists will not take steps against a Liberal-Democrat lawmaker. “Ionita should resign from the commission. He cannot head the commission and be lawmaker if he affords to make falsifications,” said Mihai Ghimpu. He stressed that he did not make the given information public earlier because he discovered the facts in September, during the campaign preceding the November 28 elections. According to him, it is the Prosecutor’s Office that will determine how the money was shared and who is to blame for the damage caused to the state. The lower tax was in force until this February, when the MPs voted in favor of restoring the initial tax of 360,000 lei.