The president of the Armenian diaspora in Moldova Venera Gasparean said that she and her family became the target for wrongdoings and blackmailing on the part of prosecutors. According to her, a manipulation campaign has been conducted through the media with the aim of creating an inexistence relationship between her family and politician Renato Usatyi, whom she does not know and has never seen in person.

The statements were made following an announcement by representatives of the law enforcement agencies, who said that they recently arrested a person who admitted that politician Renato Usatyi sent €10,000 to Vitalie Proca, who is the ex-husband of her daughter, and earlier also transmitted US$ 1,600 to Venera Gasparean.

In a news conference at IPN, Venera Gasparean said she received US$ 1,600 transmitted by Vitalie Proca for maintaining his children and she didn’t know the origin of the money. “Everything they do against our family in this country is a wrongdoing. Yes, Proca is the father of my grandchildren and we respect him as a man because he is the father of my grandchildren, no matter what they say about him. Our lives are not yet interconnected. He has his own life and we have our own life,” stated the woman.

Venera Gasparean also said that she has no connection with the €10,000 and the case with which she is associated. She presented a video showing Vitalie Proca’s cousin confirming that he transmitted the money to Vitalie Proca, but this was his own money. According to her, the same persons who arrested her son David Davitean are behind the denigration campaign.

“The sum of €10,000 can be transferred without being declared. Why did they arrest these people? Besides, the Gasparean family has no connection with this money, but they show it on TV in association with this case,” said the family’s lawyer Alexandru Botnariuc. He requested the prosecution bodies to stop the misinformation and the denigration of the Gasparean family.

The lawyer also said that he submitted a challenge to the prosecutor’s office over illegal wiretapping. “What was the reason for listening to the phone conversations of Venera Gasparean? This can take place only within legal proceedings and the person is tapped only if there is a criminal case. The people who wiretap sign a statement whereby they promise these data will not be made public as they are confidential until the investigation is over. The prosecutors should determine who presented information within this criminal case to journalists,” stated Alexandru Botnariuc.