The massive bank fraud also known as the “heist of the century” has marked Moldova's steepest decline since its independence on many key directions, including in terms of politics and morals. This is argued in an IPN analytical piece titled “Independence 2015: The Year of Decline, the first and the last”. Columnist Valeriu Vasilica suggests that the losses recorded over the past year should be measured not by the direct costs but first of all by the opportunities that have been missed despite unprecedentedly favorable conditions.
“Politically, 'the heist of the century' marked the climax of a process of rendering the state institutions dysfunctional, which for this reason proved incapable of protecting the private and public money, as well as the people's interests as a whole, from the biggest 'raider attack' in the country's history, after certain individuals or narrow groups had practiced with hundreds and thousands of smaller raids over the years. The one to blame is the political class, who fought and eventually obtained – with an insistence that deserved nobler goals – the subduing of the governmental institutions to some narrow party, or group, or perhaps even individual interests. In these circumstances, there are reasonable grounds to suspect the Moldovan political elite of sheer inability to administer state affairs and of complicity in robbing the country”, says the columnist.
Moldovan society has also received a huge moral blow, he adds. “Moldovan society received a blow which is also without precedent. What happened in the case of the 'heist of the century' reflects dangerous levels of moral decay within a considerable part of the elites, the ones that have the role of shaping attitudes, including moral ones. Society has been pushed into a state of moral depression, from where it finds it increasingly difficult to oppose negative mental and behavioral influences, which in better times are properly and unequivocally rated on the good-evil scale. It proved safer at a certain point to steal billions and go unpunished than to take a €100 bribe. It doesn't matter within this perverted logic that both were once rated as evil”, goes the analysis.
The columnist goes on to regret that the bank fraud wasn't ensued by proper measures, including firings or resignations. “Not one single resignation, not even a 'resignation of honor' ensued after a crime of such proportions, which we can safely assume involved people on all levels of government, either directly or indirectly, perpetrators and onlookers. It's either that we no longer have anyone to fire corrupt officials and punish criminals, or we have no reserves of honor left in Moldova, twenty-four years into Independence. And all these happen as the official discourse cynically goes on trumpeting 'the rule of law', 'the interests of the people' and 'European values'…”, concludes Valeriu Vasilica in the IPN analysis “Independence 2015: The Year of Decline, the first and the last”.
