Victoria Furtună, who resigned from the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office, created the public association “Vox Populi, Vox Dei”, which aims to monitor and reveal cases of grand corruption. According to her, it goes to those channels through which millions of lei are stolen from the citizens of the Republic of Moldova. In her opinion, “it is a crime to hold absolute power in the state and at the same time to complain that the citizens of the Republic of Moldova are not satisfied with the adopted laws”.
“In recent weeks, the government has launched a large-scale disinformation operation, asserting that I’m affiliated with fugitive persons, such as Veaceslav Platon, Plahotniuc, Shor and also that I will affiliate with a political party or get into politics. I will spoil the games of those from the government a bit – I’m not funded and I’m not supported by any of the abovementioned persons. No matter how much some try to manipulate public opinion, I repeat – do not try to draw me into political games. I don’t pursue that goal. I’m a person who will fight this government repression machinery, will expose those violations of legislation. I will seek to counter acts of corruption and raise public awareness and, why not, the opinion of the rulers,” Victoria Furtună told a press conference hosted by IPN.
The created association will draw up analysis reports that will be forwarded to criminal investigation bodies to investigate abuses committed by public figures or public officials. “Compiling rankings of the engines of grand corruption is the first action of the public association. At the first stage, we introduced five engines of grand corruption. The vetting, pre-vetting about which I had previously said and I reiterate that it is a broad process of subjugating the judiciary and the prosecutor’s office only in the interests of a group of people, a party in order to help them to commit crimes. Operations around gas procurement and transportation, where the Commission for Emergency Situations, by derogation from the law, required Moldovagaz to transmit the gas transmission networks to the Romanian company Vestmoldtransgaz, a majority shareholder with 75% – Transgaz of Romania and 25% – the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. As the gas transmission system is managed by a single operator, there is a risk that the price for gas transportation in the future will be dictated only by Transgaz and EBRD in Romania,” said Victoria Furtună.
Government procurement is another engine of grand corruption, in her opinion. She considers it strange that during a four-year mandate, the government didn’t aim to amend the Criminal Code and introduce criminal liability for persons who significantly contribute to tender contest rigging. “Another engine is the conscious loss of public property due to the lack of visions and management capacities. As a result, enormous amounts fail to be collected into the state budget – akeover of the Airport and commercial spaces leasing operations,” stated Victoria Furtună.
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