The Save Basarabia Union (USB) candidate for the position of mayor of Chișinău municipality, Valeriu Munteanu, notified theElectoral Council of the Chișinău municipal constituency of use of undeclared financial means by PSRM candidate for the City Hall, Ion Ceban. Valeriu Munteanu claimed that Ion Ceban did not declare at least 100 thousand euros. According to the USB candidate, the electoral law provides for the exclusion of the candidate from the electoral race as punishment for the violation.
At an IPN press conference, Valeriu Munteanu said that the USB team counted over 100 Ion Ceban billboards on city grounds. The price for billboard rental ranges from 250 euros for small ones to 500 euros for medium billboards. Large billboards may reach up to 2000 euros rental fees per month. The Socialist Party expenditure report, which is submitted weekly to CEC, did not include billboard expenses. The last 4 expenditure reports submitted by the PSRM account for 15 thousand lei of street advertising expenses, which is about 700 euros.
"According to our estimates, in reality, the PSRM spends 30 times more on billboards than declared, which amounts to about 100 thousand euros per month", claimed Valeriu Munteanu. The USB candidate believes that the money could come from one of two sources. "Either the PSRM has already connected itself to the money flow that comes from government activity or it is financed by Moscow with dark money from the Kremlin", claimed the candidate.
According to Ilie Crețu, USB general secretary, billboards associated to Ion Ceban are placed at every street corner in the Ciocana and Râșcani districts. On average, the rental of each billboard costs "10 thousand lei, which is the equivalent of 10 monthly pensions". The USB's estimates only include the billboards rented on city grounds and do not account for suburban billboards.
Alexandru Bostan, USB Permanent Office member, said that the discrepancy between the PSRM reported costs and the actual expenditures for street advertising can be easily calculated by consulting the price list of any advertising agency.
