Political party accuses Government of corruption in privatization. Originally published Dec.26, 2008

Moldova Noastra Alliance (AMN) accuses the Government of committing corruption acts in privatizing state-owned assets, Info-Prim Neo reports. “The sales of assets of the last 6 months tell of the fact that we're witnessing a new 'prihvatization' (a pun implying theft which was often used by the Communists in the late 90s ) at a big scale, and well managed by the mafia clan ruling the country,” reads a statement by the AMN faction, read out by MP Ion Gutu in the Parliament on Friday. AMN maintains “all the decision adopted by the Government, by the commissions adopting selling decisions, have been well thought to guarantee the results planned by the respective grouping.” An example: an invention of the Tarlev cabinet, alongside Bourse auctions and tenders, the so-called 'commercial tender', which, according to the AMN, can be easily called 'corruptive tender'.” A big part of assets and companies have been taken out from the non-privatization list, and then they were set for sale through Governmental decisions, removing thus the Parliament from the privatization process. AMN claims that, when the Parliament left for the summer vacation, the Government set up a list of assets for privatization. Among them: Dacia hotel, Moldova resort in Odesa, Moldova resort in Truskavets, Sanatatea resort in Sergheevca, the canteen of the Government, etc. The party brings up numerous examples of 'prihvatizing' the state assets. Among them: increasing the equity of Moldasig insurer, as the state missed 4 billion lei, renting and then selling the building of the former Privatization Department on Pushkin street (2000m2) to the bank of president Voronin's son Oleg, Finconbank. According to AMN, the building on Hancesti street in Chisinau, from where the Statistics Department was ousted was set for sale for 80 million lei. “This variant was not accepted by the future owner, who did not want to pay hard cash. Then they went another way. A part of the building was rented by the Government and sold off in several months through direct negotiations. The owners remained the initially planned, NIT TV station, but it bought the building for an amount ten times less,” Ion Gutu. AMN mentioned other transactions operated by the same scenario. “All the privatizations yielded the state budget some 1.5 billion lei. According to our estimates, only in 6 months of the Greceanai Cabinet, the damages incurred to the state exceed the amount of sales. How can such phenomena of big corruption occur in a dictatorship? There is only one answer: the leadership is involved,” AMN states. AMN demands the immediate halt of the privatization given the world financial crisis. The Court of Accounts is asked to assess the assets of all the entities sold through commercial tenders, and the General Prosecutor's Office – to investigate the illicit privatizations. The Communist Party in power has not commented the AMN's accusations.