A group of passenger transportation companies claim they are persecuted and threatened with criminal charges by competitors working hand in hand with bribed high-ranking prosecutors and police officers in order to take over their businesses.

The companies “Ednateric Trans”, “Transeric Tur”, “Katev Travel & Commercial” and “Skylines Tour” have been operating international passenger routes since 2009.

“Our company pays about two million lei in taxes every year. We operate new-generation buses and do our work honestly. This spring, we were warned that we could be dispossessed of our business in a scheme plotted by INI head Ion Iachimov, head of Directorate no. 1 Igor Zglavuţa, head of the South Economic Police Vasile Balica, Prosecutor General Eduard Harunjen, and ANTA head Nicolae Gavriliţă. All in the interest of Valeriu and Victor Sarioglo, co-owners of Sarvalteh Auto PLC,” says Natalia Begu, the wife of one of the businessmen.

According to her, “this organized group” started to fabricate criminal charges against her husband and his business partner. They were accused of blackmail, arson, hooliganism. A district court eventually released the men, but on the same day, a new criminal case was started on attempted murder charges. Natalia Begu says both her husband and business partner had to leave the country for fear of persecution.

The woman says she tried to hold a press conference earlier about how GPO and INI leadership were allegedly protecting trafficking schemes, but “Eduard Harunjen found out and immediately contacted us through third parties, warning us that talking to reporters would make matters worse.” According to Natalia Begu, they were asked to pay a bribe of 250,000 euros to be left alone, and then 250,000 euros more for the charges to be dropped.

Natalia Begu added she has filed “countless complaints about the wrongdoings of Sarvalteh Auto, but everything has turned against her, in the form of inspections, threats and so on.” The woman also says that “they have often been accused of being protected by members of the Democratic Party, when in fact it’s our competitors’ buses that were involved in carrying PDM protestors.”

Ednateric Trans’s lawyer Alexandru Bot requested the right of self-defense to be respected. "We want this case to be objectively investigated, and my clients should be able at least to defend themselves. When we wanted to defend ourselves we were blackmailed immediately on attempted murder charges. It is clear that it is an action that aims to put my clients in prison at any cost,” said the lawyer.