The investigative reporters of RISE Moldova proved how, despite the Russian embargo, Moldovan civil servants issue papers to some companies that allow the export to Russia of any fruit or vegetable cargo, without any lab tests and without checking their origin. IPN spoke about the investigation with its author, Vladimir Thorik, editor-in-chief of the RISE Moldova's Russian language division, who managed to infiltrate this illegal group.
Claiming to be a small entrepreneur who bought 19 tonnes of apples and 19 tonnes of plums from Cantemir district, he contacted the head of a Chisinau-based company officially registered in Transnistria. The journalist managed to obtain from him a set of genuine papers that allow the export from Moldova to Russia of the 38 tonnes of fruits.
“The investigation lasted three weeks. At the end of July I found that several Moldovan companies, to whom Russia granted temporary export permits, cannot obtain sanitary certificates for export. Meanwhile, several companies considered close to the leaders of the National Agency for Food Security (ANSA) were allowed to export to Russia. These are businessmen from Chisinau who decided to sidestep the embargo by changing the legal addresses of their companies to Transnistria”, explained Vladimir Thorik.
According to the journalist, people from the export companies he met are really scared.
“It's wrong that businessmen aren't afraid of the police or prosecutors, but of a group of businessmen and officials who devised a scheme for selectively issuing sanitary certificates for export to Russia. Even exporters and farmers from the left bank of the Nistru, for whom Russia lifted the embargo, are afraid to talk about this. They say that in order to export to Russia they pay intermediaries in Chisinau between 750$ and 1,200$ per truck”, Thorik told IPN.
The National Anticorruption Center has already reacted to these findings and is analyzing the facts concerning the possible participation of ANSA officials in the illegal export schemes. ANSA itself has announced an internal investigation regarding the information revealed by RISE Moldova.
