“In the fight against corruption, we see only a struggle against the political opponents and that’s all,” Adrian Lebedinschi, MP of the Bloc of Communists and Socialists, stated in a public debate hosted by IPN. “Regrettably, we are at the stage when the politicians, the government cannot offer a better life to the citizens and have to act by these grandiose methods – the citizens anyway react to any search and any arrest. Instead of bread, the government offers shows,” said the MP.
According to him, after taking over, representatives of the new government said they will fight the schemes related to smuggling of cigarettes, ethyl alcohol, amber and others. “If the schemes existed, they were taken over by the new government. Romania arrests many persons dealing with such type of trafficking on the state border. In the Republic of Moldova, we do not see such arrests. Starting with September, we haven’t had any case of smuggling. Moreover, in the Republic of Moldova, the current government actually takes over what was applied under Vladimir Plahotniuc,” said Adrian Lebedinschi, noting no concrete actions to fight corruption are seen at legislative level, but corruption exists and flourishes.
He also said that no new, upright persons were brought to the law enforcement agencies to fight corruption. “The same persons remained and some of them were even promoted and given broader powers,” stated Adrian Lebedinschi. “There is no staff crisis. We have well-trained specialists in all the areas, including with studies outside the Republic of Moldova, at good universities. The problem is the citizens who have experience and know how to solve problems do not want to come to work for the governmental team as they do not agree with the current political power.”
The Socialist MP noted that the investigations carried out by special European services show that in 2019-2020 the number of contraband cigarettes used in the European area decreased. Their price grew automatically as a part of the schemes were stopped, but not all of them. Also, under the Socialists’ rule, the export of metals was liberalized and not only “Metal Feros” could export, but also other business entities.
The public debate titled “Corruption fighting in the Republic Moldova: between objectives, processes and effects” is the 224th installment of the project “Developing Political Culture through Public Debates” that is implemented with support from the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
