President Vladimir Voronin has signed a decree on Monday, June 11, June on discharging Valeriu Plesca from the office of Minister of Defence. According to the presidential press service, the decree stipulates the transfer of the duties of Minister of Defence, until a new minister is named under the legislation in force, to Ion Coropcean, chief of the Main Staff of the National Army, commander of the National Army. Details regarding the reasons for dismissing the Minister of Defence are not unveiled in the Presidency’s communiqué. At the same time, the Chisinau Military Prosecutor’s Office announced in a press release that it initiated criminal proceedings “against decision makers from MOD for criminal negligence” over a fatal accident at Bulboaca shooting range. According to the cited source, on Saturday, June 9, with the consent and in the presence of Minister Plesca, a group of journalists fired from Kalashnikov rifles. As a result, a civilian was shot to death. Valeriu Plesca, 49, is a lawyer and a prosperous businessman. The press wrote that he is the main shareholder of a distribution company for the KVINT cognacs in Chisinau (SC Kvint-Plus Ltd.). Reportedly the Plesca family also owns the SC Steaua Group Ltd. (a real estate investment company). While being abroad in 2002, Plesca held a news conference, stressing that he was going to look for political asylum if “the communist regime wouldn’t leave him alone”. This statement occurred following a series of inquiries into his companies in Chisinau by President Vladimir Voronin. As the leader of the New Force political party, in 2003 Plesca was among the 10 party leaders (Dumitru Diacov, Victor Morev, Gheorghe Sima, Valeriu Efremov and others) who made coalition with the Communist Party. By a presidential decree, on 29 December 2004, independent deputy Valeriu Plesca was appointed as Minister of Defence, and on 19 April 2005, he was reconfirmed in the same office.