Voronin: Filat pays debt to Patriciu by giving him contraband cigarettes, UPDATE

The former President of Moldova Vladimir Voronin, in a news conference on Thursday, said the Romanian businessman Dinu Patriciu financed the election campaign of the Liberal Democratic Party and now Premier Vlad Filat pays the debt by giving him contraband cigarets. The Communist leader referred to last week's incident, when the Romanian border police stopped a Moldovan truck transporting contraband cigarettes to the value of over € 800,000 at the border crossing point Albita-Leuseni, Info-Prim Neo reports. Vladimir Voronin said he possess information according to which three weeks ago the Moldovan Premier was called to Bucharest for a private meeting with Dinu Patriciu. “Filat remembered his youth experience when he was smuggling cigarettes. He realized it was the shortest method possible for settling his debts,” Voronin said. According to the former head of state, ten trucks with cigarettes were to get to Romania, but the situation went out of control. “Some officers at the border crossing point were changed. They did not know about the agreement and stopped the truck. But there could have been also a misunderstanding between Patriciu and Basescu,” the Communist leader said. He asserts that Dinu Patriciu and Romania's President Traian Basescu are friends. But the Romanian press reported that Patriciu financed the election campaigns of Basescu's opponents – Mircea Geoana and Crin Antonescu. [UPDATE] Dinu Patriciu was quoted by Mediafax as saying that Voronin's statements are nonsense. “I did not have commercial, financial or other kinds of relations with Mister Filat. I saw him once only,” he said. Prime Minister Vlad Filat denied having been involved in the cigarette smuggling case discovered at the border crossing point Albita-Leuseni. The head of the Customs Service Tudor Balitski announced that two Moldovan customs officers who let the truck pass were suspended from post and are under investigation. [UPDATE] On March 11, Prosecutor General Valeriu Zubko ordered transferring the materials concerning the cigarette smuggling case from the Customs Service to the Prosecution Division of the General Prosecutor's Office. A working group was created to investigate this case. It includes prosecutors and investigation officers of the Center for Combating Corruption and Economic Crime and the Customs Service.