Due to the depreciation of the leu, at the start of 2015, 25% of Moldovan citizens became poorer by a quarter; the total loss to the population caused by the “Theft of the Century” is estimated at around half a billion dollars, says the article “Can Moldova ever win its grueling fight against corruption?”, published by the renowned international platform Global Voices, where résumé of the main problems faced in all the regions of the world appear in over 30 languages.
Politicians from this eastern European state have come and gone, defeating and replacing each other over the past 30 years of independence, but one thing remains static: their relentless ability to draw Moldova into international corruption scandals.
To illustrate the destructive influence of corruption on the life of ordinary people, the résumé reproduces the opinions of experts and the story of a farmer from northern Moldova.
“I am the victim of fraud by high-ranking corrupt officials who have gone unpunished,” complains Stanislav Ivanița, a farmer from the village of Corbu in the Dondușeni District, in the far north of Moldova. This 60-year-old veteran of the conflict in nearby breakaway Transnistria now faces a battle with the Moldovan authorities: Stanislav is fighting against repayment of a loan whose sum has risen by a third following corruption scandals linked to the theft of a billion dollars from one of Europe’s poorest countries. The bank isn’t giving up, but neither is he.
To pay off the debt, Ivanița’s family had to sell all eight hectares of their land, a tractor, and a farm building used to house livestock. But it wasn’t enough.
Speaking about the unavoidable punishment for economic crimes and corruption at high level, Global Voices presents a press officer’s comment concerning the common cause made by other states with Moldova to identify persons accused of economic crimes.
“As of today there has been no official answer from Interpol's central bureau in Lyon concerning an international search warrant for Vladimir Plahotniuc,” said Angela Starinschi, press officer of Moldova's National Anticorruption Centre, in comments to Global Voices on January 28. “The fight against corruption is an ongoing process, taking into account the fact that there is a high tolerance towards corruption in society.
