Contacted by IPN for details, mayor of Comrat Sergey Anastasov said the heavy rain washed out 15 kilometers of gravel roads and the strong wind tore roofs from houses and other buildings. At least 50 petitions for assistance came in at the Comrat City Hall from the public. A kindergarten building alone requires 1 million lei in roof repair. According to the Emergencies Inspectorate, on Wednesday, rescuers were called to respond to over 30 incidents in Gagauzia and elsewhere in southern Moldova. Downed trees had to be removed in Basarabeasca, Cahul, Căușeni, Ștefan-Vodă, Cimișlia, Taraclia, and in the Gagauz autonomy.
The parliamentary inquiry commission investigating the infamous 2011-2014 bank fraud has published a facsimile of the Second Kroll Report (in English).
Former minister of finance Veaceslav Negruța, who is an expert of Transparency International Moldova, said the hiding of the Second Kroll Report led to the commission of other wrongdoings. According to him, the report contains important things for a narrow segment of specialists, such as prosecutors and economists, those who know to analyze and understand such information. For the general public, the most important element – the list of final beneficiaries – is absent. He also said the Second Kroll Report shows very clearly where the €1.1 billion went. The money reached European countries, offshore areas. “The prosecutors and state institutions made everything possible for no information to be requested. There was made no approach to the European or American authorities to seek help,” stated Veaceslav Negruța, noting the property located in Moldova should be further sequestrated.
The masterminds of the bank fraud were no ordinary people, they knew all the ins and outs of the banking system, and had planned carefully all the details so that they don’t get caught, according to prosecutor Adriana Bețișor. She said that per the Recovery Strategy the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office uses the amount of 13.34 billion lei as a target for how much money it has to recover. So far 2.27 billion lei has been recovered and 26 investigations are ongoing in an attempt to get closer to the target.
Journalist Alex Cozer said the resignations witnessed now in the prosecution service are just a very big frustration. He referred to the resignation of Adrianei Bețișor from the post of acting Anticorruption Prosecutor. “This so-called resignation from the post of acting chief means absolutely nothing. These are words and attempts to make us ignore things. Something like this cannot be accepted and the current government should be much more intransigent and we should see real resignations. I didn’t hear any of the leaders of the current government clearly seeking the resignation of Eduard Harunjen from the post of persecutor general, as it happened in other cases,” stated the journalist.
A new set of criminal proceedings have been started against the businessman-turned-politician Ilah Shor as he is believed to have violated his bail conditions, specifically the travel restrictions. Prosecutor General Eduard Harungjen said that while no records exist at the Chisinau Airport and other border checkpoints that Shor existed Moldova, there is a reasonable suspicion that the politician did sneak out of the country as he has failed to report his whereabouts and appear at the latest hearing in the Cahul Court of Appeals last week.
Expert of the “WatchDog” community Sergiu Tofilat said there are two connections between the bank fraud committed in Moldova and the Russian laundromat and these refer to the amendments made to the legislation to facilitate the given schemes and the inaction of state institutions. According to him, the Prosecutor’s Office and the National Anticorruption Center had to prevent the laundromat scheme as fictitious transactions guaranteed by Moldovan citizens were performed as part of this. The biggest responsibility in the bank fraud is borne by the National Bank of Moldova as this had many instruments to prevent this fraud.
President Igor Dodon said a European prosecutor will not be accepted to manage the Prosecutor General’s Office, as the Bloc ACUM wants. “We understand their position and understand that they promised to their voters, but we also made many promises to our voters. We are trying to find the middle ground. We will not give up our program and will deliver the promises we made to the voters. For the purpose, we needed a parliamentary majority. Those of the right should tell the same to their voters,” stated President Dodon.
Ruslan Codreanu was dismissed today as deputy mayor and interim general mayor of Chisinau by the vote of 36 out of 51 municipal councilors. Deputy mayor Nistor Grozavu was also fired at the same City Council meeting. The dismissal was proposed by Socialist and Liberal councilors as an additional item to the order of the day. Dan Mitriuc resigned as director general of the national telecoms carrier “Moldtelecom”. Also, the vice-president of the Central Electoral Commission Rodica Ciubotaru has announced she is quitting in protest at “the latest attempts to modify the electoral legislation,” which she says “compromises the independence of a CEC mandate and undermines the authority of the electoral body.”
Details on IPN!
