The £458,000 confiscated from the son of former Prime Minister Vlad Filat, Luca Filat, will soon reach the Republic of Moldova. The money will be used for social assistance for persons with disabilities, President Maia Sandu stated after the meeting with British Minister for the European Neighborhood Wendy Morton, who is in Chisinau on an official two-day visit. President Sandu noted that they agreed on the support for an anti-corruption consultancy project that will be implemented under the presidential administration, IPN reports.
“We today had an exchange of opinions on the political situation in our country. We discussed the reform agenda we propose and for which we need the UK’s support. We also discussed the development of the relations between our countries in the post-Brexit context and the situation in the region. We thank the British Government for the generous assistance offered in fighting the effects of the pandemic and for the contribution to providing the Republic of Moldova with vaccines through the COVAX platform,” the official stated in a press briefing.
According to her, they agreed the methods of returning the funds confiscated from Luca Filat for the benefit of the people. “The efforts of our team to recover the funds stolen in Moldova produce results. Following the approaches made in the course of last year, the London courts ordered to return the confiscated sum of £458,000 from citizen Luca Filat. Soon, this money, which is equal to almost 11.5 million lei, will be used for the benefit of persons with severe disabilities,” stated Maia Sandu.
As to the anti-corruption project, President Sandu said this consists of technical assistance and consultancy provided by experts contracted during the presidential mandate. It is technical assistance in anti-corruption and the justice sector reform.
Wendy Morton said the Government supports the ambitions to implement reforms and to fight corruption, including ill-gotten gains, and the agreement to return the £458,000 confiscated from Moldovan citizen Luca Filat forms part of these efforts.
“We also discussed with Missis President the way in which we can support her ambitions to fight corruption. At the President’s request, the EU will offer assistance in designing a project to finance consultants, to tackle different initiatives, including in communication, to fight corruption. Today we are launching the tender contest for this important project.”
The official also said that the UK follows with big interest the political changes in the Republic of Moldova, including the activity of different institutions aimed at ensuring free and fair elections on July 11. Wendy Morton referred to the Strategic Partnership, Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the Republic of Moldova and the UK signed in December 2020. According to her, the objective is to strengthen the economic, political, security and cultural ties. The agreement is to be fully put into practice.
