Politician Sergiu Mocanu claims that within state company Moldsilva there is a system of money collection, established by former head Anatol Papusoi when he was appointed by the Communists, that is still working today. Any forester who wants to be employed at Moldsilva must pay a 5000 euros fee and a monthly fee of 10 lei per hectare of forest. The money are obtained from the illegal deforestation of the state forest fund. This lead to Moldova having only a third of the necessary forested areas, the leader of the People's Antimafia Movement told a press conference.
Sergiu Mocanu said that century-old trees are cut in national parks. The foresters and employees of the Edinet forestry agency notified the Prosecutor General's Office, the Ecologic Inspectorate, the CNA and CNI, but to no avail. “Vitalie Munteanu, the head of the Edinet forestry agency, is now building himself a luxury house in Ialoveni and is getting rich thanks to illegal deforestation. His counterpart from Otaci district Boris Cojocaru is another player in this scheme. He has recently bough a brand new car for 23,000 euros. Foresters must collect money for the Liberal Reformists Party that appointed Stefan Chitoroaga at the helm of Moldsilva”, said Mocanu.
Anatol Vengher, who has worked for 23 years as forestry engineer in Edinet, told the press he had petitioned Moldsilva and the Ecologic Inspectorate about the massive illegal deforestation, and offered to show them where such instances were taking place. However, Moldsilva's forestry patrol didn't ask him to attend the field inspection and answered him that only 23 illegally cut trees were found in the 15,000 hectares of forests in Edinet, Ocnita and Otaci.
Another participant at the press conference, Boris Rusu, said he left his job as a forester after 23 years of work because of the pressure to collect money to fund the Liberal Reformists Party. The man warns that if the forestry branch isn't restructured, Moldova will lose its most valuable forests, especially the rare trees, in 10 years. Rusu, a member of PLDM, admitted that during electoral campaigns, he had to collect three times more money to fund the parties that administered Moldsilva. He also had to collect information about the voting preferences of people in the northern districts.
