Valentin Todercan was SIS officer under cover, Boris Asarov

Former president of the public company Teleradio-Moldova Valentin Todercan was an officer of the Security and Information Service (SIS) under cover, the leader of “Pro Europa” Association Boris Asarov said. According to him, during the eight years of Communist Government, a large part of the media that served the PCRM regularly misinformed the public and broke the law and the deontological norms, Info-Prim Neo reports. Boris Asarov said that some of the news agencies, like Top News, worked without a license and the necessary contracts. The Broadcasting Coordination Council took measures only after the Communists lost power. “Omega and Top News permanently violated the law and the deontological norms. Omega is a classical example of how the press should not be. The journalists of the Agency take phrases out of the context and say untruths, while NIT manipulates the public opinion. Their attitude towards the public and the instruments they use show disrespect for the people,” the leader of “Pro Europa” said. In a news conference held at Info-Prim Neo on March 30, Boris Asarov spoke about the Soviet practice of naming officers under cover as managers of public broadcasters. “The appointment of Secret Services' officers as managers of mass media organizations was a dubious Soviet practice used by the Communists as well,” Boris Asarov said. “The former president of the public company Teleradio Moldova Valentin Todercan was an officer under cover. The same is true about Ion Berlinski, the director of the newspaper “Moldova Suverana.” Boris Asarov also said that these institutions became party press under the Communist rule. They propagated xenophobia, misinformed the people and disseminated lies. The reformation of these media institutions initiated at the request of the European organizations was not brought to an end and was carried out with serious violations of the legislation. “Many publications loyal to the Communists continue to misinform the public,” Boris Asarov said. “A party paper published recently an article where Igor Dodon says only 10-15% of the money that Moldova will receive from foreign donors are grants, but in reality the grants constitute 52%, while the loans - 48%. Dodon also says that the interest on the loans is very high. Actually, the interest rates range from 0.2% to 1.5%.” Boris Asarov stated that the paper “Nezavisimaya Moldova” not only misinforms the public, but makes everything possible to stop the multilateral development of the Russian-language speakers, though the publications should broaden their horizons. The leader of “Pro Europa” considers that the Government of Moldova should not privatize the newspapers “Moldova Suverana” and “Nezavisimaya Moldova”, but reform them and transform them into governmental papers that will correctly inform the population about the work and decisions of the executive. Contacted by Info-Prim Neo, Valentin Todercan said the assertions made by Boris Asharov are not true. “ I have never had connections with the SIS, KGB or any other organization of the kind in Moldova or Europe,” Todercan said.