It’s impossible for the entire sum stolen from Banca de Economii to have been taken out of the country during several days, considers economic expert Viorel Garbu. He made related statements in the talk show “Pahomi” on Realitatea TV channel, IPN reports.
“They say the theft was committed shortly before the parliamentary elections. It’s impossible for all the money to have been taken out of the country. First of all, they stole Moldovan lei that were to be converted into foreign currency. Moldova’s currency market is small and it’s impossible to convert such a large sum in several days. Moldova’s annual exports total 2 billion lei. Maybe there were performed a number of transactions. Banca Sociala couldn’t have released loans of 13 billion lei in cash, as the Parliament’s commission of inquiry ascertained. It was impossible for such a large sum to have existed in the bank’s deposit boxes. Most probably, the money was transferred,” said Garbu.
The expert made gloomy forecasts for Moldova. “It is rumored that over 22 billion lei was stolen. The stealing of 13 billion lei was proven. This is a huge sum for Moldova given that there is 25 billion lei cash in circulation. It is an enormous gap for our country and we will feel the effects in the nearest future. The internal debt is actually to be recovered by the declining economy. They have stolen shamelessly during 25 years. The case of Banca de Economii is only one of a number of such cases. These thefts are the reason why we are the poorest country in Europe,” he stated.
According to Viorel Garbu, the foreign financing is the Moldovan Government’s only chance to cover the budget deficit, but this financing will most probably diminish considerably. In such a case, the Government could privatize a number of state-owned facilities.
