LibDems accuse Government of distributing aid on clientele basis

The Moldovan Liberal-Democratic Party (PLDM) accuses the Government of non-transparently and illegally managing the humanitarian aid offered to Moldova by Russia and Romania to overcome the effects of the last year's drought, Info-Prim Neo reports. Its leader, Vlad Filat, told a news conference on Wednesday that the state has offered wheat to two profit-making companies. Or, this runs counter the law. The parliamentarian has made reference to two governmental decisions, from February and, respectively, from May, 2008, on donating 9,000 tonnes of wheat to Chisinau-based bakery “Franzeluta” and 2,000 tonnes to a bakery from Balti. “The government makes economic wonders on peasants' account,” the PLDM president has said. Filat says he will ask on Thursday in the Parliament to set up a commission to probe the case. At the same time, the party leaders ask the General Prosecutor's Office and the Competition Protection National Agency to verify the legality of the Government;s moves. They urge Moldova's international donors to monitor the way in which their aid is managed. According to Veaceslav Negruta, a member of the PLDM's steady bureau, concentrating the consignment in the country's North and Center, and not in the South which was mostly affected by the drought, is an unexplainable gesture of the country's leadership. “Selecting only two companies from those over 100 bakeries may lead to ruin some of them,” Negruta said. PLDM's deputy president, Alexandru Tanase, thinks by subsidizing companies from the North and the Center, the Government tries to maintain a certain situation as to the bread price in those localities where there local administrations more or less loyal to the power. “The consignment for peasants are used with electoral purposes. Nobody knows what criteria are applied to distribute the humanitarian aid,” Tanase said. According to him, “what the Communists do represents shameless moves of corrupting and manipulating the voters.” PLDM has learnt about the distribution of the wheat to those two bakeries following an interpellation to the Agriculture Ministry, as the two decisions were marked as classified.