New staff of Chisinau City Hall noticed by police and municipal councillors. Analysis by Info-Prim Neo

Tax payers paid MDL 3 mln for the staff changes performed by the interim-mayor Vasile Ursu in the local public administration of Chisinau. The effect of these expenses is below expectances, several municipal councillors say, quoted by Info-Prim Neo. [Overview of “the new staff” and the fight with corruption at the City Hall] Two months ago Ursu stated that “he changed many staffers” and that after half a year he would enter the local elections with a good team, already created. Meanwhile, the City Hall started a radical fight with the corruption in the local public bodies by organising a seminar on the prevention of corruption. According to Ursu, about 70 persons were dismissed from Architecture and Urbanism Department. Although the fight for the elimination of the corrupt employees is declared bitter, the officers of Cross-border and Informational Offences Department of the Ministry of Interiors caught red-handed three jurists of the Legal assistance Department at the moment when they were receiving a bribe of MDL 1500. The information was publicised by the press centre of the Ministry, which confirmed this information to Info-Prim Neo. According to the Ministry of Interiors, the employees were caught whilst taking money from the manager of a Company who wanted to stop them making a report on the violations found at the company. Penal proceedings were initiated against the employees. [A part of the new staff compromises the local public administration – Valeri Climenco] Municipal Councillor of the social-political Movement “Ravnopravie” Valeri Climenco says that a part of the new staff promoted by Ursu compromises the local public administration by its libertine behaviour, fact which was proven by the “lawyers’ case”. Climeco says that the City Hall is more corrupt now than it was before “Ursu’s reforms”, because it tolerates and encourages the staff promoted by him. Many new employees, brought by Ursu from Rascani District Office transformed the City Hall into an instrument for wangling. Climenco says the head of Public Relations Department Svetlana Frunza takes the liberty to make orders on behalf of Ursu. She insisted that the Culture Department changed the list of participants in the Days of Chisinau in Targoviste. She also asked the administration of the Central Market to bring her packages with food and many other facts that prove that Frunza is in fact administrating Chisinau, and not the interim mayor or CMC, Climeco says. According to the councillor, he insisted upon the dismissal of Frunza but did not manage to convince Ursu. Other new employees have a similar behaviour. They tell Ursu about who should be promoted, and businessmen who should be supported, the councillor claims. “Ursu’s new team is much more unprofessional than the previous one and if actions will not be taken it will definitely compromise the local administration”, Climenco says. [New employments are made according to Ursu’s personal and subjective criteria - Mihai Roscovan] Leader of the Social Action Movement (SAM), Mihai Roscovan says that CMC is not responsible for the new employees, because the new staff did not follow the legal employment procedures. “Ursu selects the persons according to his personal and subjective criteria, according to the personal devotement”, the councillor says. Roscovan says corruption at the City Hall is not something new and the lawyers proved this fact. According to the leader of SAM, he does not know these persons but he heard from Ursu himself that one of them, Radion Starcea does not have the required education. “I can not image how such a person could be appointed to such a responsible position”, Roscovan stated, saying that as far as he knows, he is the son of Eugenia Starcea, Christian Democrat councillor. “The City Hall needs a serious process on uprooting corruption. I believe that neither the incumbent mayor, nor the CMC can do this”, Roscovan stated. [Same standpoint shared by Oleg Cernei] Councillor of Moldova Noastra Alliance, Oleg Cernei is sure that the staff shifts performed practically by one of the deputy mayors, who is now the interim mayor Vasile Ursu, is an action aiming at creating a docile electoral staff. The employments were not made on professional grounds or transparent contest. Loyalty to Ursu was the most important criterion, Cernei claims. Some of them were chosen at the recommendation of some municipal councillors, such as Euegenia Starcea, whose son is Radion Starcea, Cernei says, puzzled at the professional skills of some new staffers, who do not have a proper qualification but they are loyal to the interim mayor. Cernei claims that Ursu cheats when he says that he got rid of the corrupt persons. The land-related files are not examined for months at the Legal assistance Department. Moreover, the jurists who represent the City Hall in courts lose the suits, because they come in compact with the persons they have to fight against, all for money, Cernei says. Cernei says that the CMC can not control these persons or the responsibility of those who promoted them, giving the example of the head of the Public Relations Department, Svetlana Frunza or Rodica Tropotel, who was appointed as the head of Petitions Department “for unknown reasons” in light of the fact that she does not have any work experience related to the local administration. [Communists insist upon examining the case of suspected jurists…] Communist councillor Serghei Novic told Info-Prim Neo that this corruption case must be examined at the sitting of CMC in order to see how such persons were employed. “We will find who these persons are, where they are coming from and what the employment criteria were”, Novic said, specifying that CMC has no right to stay indifferent at such serious cases. Also, Novic considers that the idea of changing the staff of the City Hall is good, but its implementation is poor. […and the Christian Democrat councillor “knows” it is not about bribing] Christian Democrat councillor Eugenia Starcea was indignant at the fact that Info-Prim Neo published the news about the jurists caught with bribe that was subsequently broadcasted at Euro TV, saying that the News Agency should have talked with the accused persons whether they accepted the bribe or not. Starcea says that these persons are not guilty, and the Ministry of Interiors “is doing God knows what”, because “this is not bribe”. The councillor says “there was no bribe in exchange for some services. It is all about some particular relations between consumers and a company that supplies expired goods [IPN Note] - By chance or by choice the new administrator of Euro TV Chisinau Vasile Nastase requested the cancellation of the news delivery contract with Info-Prim Neo a day after the news with the „lawyer’s case” from the City Hall was published. - The news was published on Wednesday, January 17 and it presented the standpoint of the head of City Hall’s Legal Department. He denied the fact that the lawyers were arrested by the police, saying that it is all about “some particular issues”. - According to the personnel chart of the City Hall, the General Interim Mayor is responsible for the activity of the Legal Assistance Department, Authorisation and Construction Discipline Department, Bookkeeping and Economic Analysis Department, Foreign Affairs Department, Regional Cooperation and European Integration Department, Public Relations Department and Human Resources Department.