The citizens of the Republic of Moldova are tired of hearing about corruption and corrupt people. When speaking about the corruption of our political class, the theft of the US$ billion is simply banal or even enervating. It is evident that the rottenness of corruption devoured the whole state construction, leaving metastases in all the public and private intuitions. In such circumstances, the coming of the parliamentary elections scheduled for February 24, 2019 starts to reveal unexpected things, like, for example, the resistance of Moldovan politicians to the temptation of corruption.
We could take out such an example from the program “Black box” broadcast by TV8 channel on November 4, 2018. In the program, the president of the Liberal Party (PL) Mihai Ghimpu informed us about his party’s strategy for the upcoming parliamentary elections, especially about the method of cooperation between the PL and the extraparliamentary opposition for removing the ruling parties from power. After earlier making a series of rather harsh statements about the extraparliamentary opposition, with appropriate responses on the part of the latter, Mihai Ghimpu said conciliatorily the following: “It was clear for me from the start that we will not form an electoral bloc. We speak about the coordination of campaigning in single-member constituencies so as to support the candidates for MP because, if we clash between us, the Socialist or Democratic candidate or Plahotniuc’s man will win as a result. We have 51 constituencies. We already issued the invitation and we will meet.”
This is the essence of the entire strategy. It’s clear that a big and united Euro-unionist electoral bloc for a decisive frontal confrontation with the ruling party and its acolytes will not exist. At least it is suggested abandoning the mutual attacks and cooperating in single-member constituencies. It is naive to believe something like this, but such an offer deserves attention anyway. However, this is not what impresses the most in the approaches of the PL leader. The point is that Mihai Ghimpu earlier expressed his public dissatisfaction with the so-called integrity filters of the extraparliamentary opposition for the formation of a common list of candidates of the opposition. The idea of filters itself seemed to doubt the integrity of Mihai Ghimpu and this was revolting for him. To not go through filers, the leader of the PL accepted the non-creation of the electoral bloc and suggested minimal cooperation – combination of efforts in single-member constituencies.
For everyone to see that the idea of integrity filters is an absurdity, Mihai Ghimpu informed public opinion about the fact that he was given 400 million lei bribe for accepting “a rise”. Who in such a corrupt state could resist such an offer? After such statements, anyone can draw the conclusion that the politician who refused taking bribe of such a size is undoubtedly honest. Or maybe there were obstacles of another kind that prevented him from taking the bribe? Indeed, 400 million lei cannot be put in a bag or in a sack. According to Mihai Ghimpu’s calculations, the stolen US$ 1 billion can be transported by ten “Ikarus” buses. So, the 400 million lei bribe should be transportation by four “Ikarus” buses and this is a problem.
The Liberal leader didn’t provide details about the post he occupied when he was offered bribe and what he was to “raise”. That’s why the whole electoral campaign of the PL will probably be based on the intrigue – what was Mihai Ghimpu to raise and how he resisted? For the citizens, it will be impossible to resist the temptation – who and for what purposes wanted to raise something? The captivating questions do not end here. What lucrative posts did the PL leader hold for being made such offers and if those who now hold the given posts do not profit from them by accepting bribe? We remember that Mihai Ghimpu held the posts of president of the Chisinau Municipal Council and of Speaker of Parliament during relatively short periods of time. Both of the posts are important. However, the decisions of the Council and Parliament are adopted by a majority of the votes of councilors and MPs, respectively. The post of acting President of the Republic of Moldova held by Mihai Ghimpu does not imply the raising of something for which he would be offered 400 million lei bribe. That’s why we can presume that the Liberal leader joked or wanted to create a myth about incorruptibility.
Given the aforementioned, surely Mihai Ghimpu deserves people’s appreciation for his resistance to the temptation of corruption. However, what matters for the general public is the fact that the leader of the PL accepts compromises. The most important compromise made by him was the signing of the secret protocol on the distribution of senior state and regulatory posts. Those who obtained the given posts based on the secret protocol allowed the US$ 1 billion to be stolen. And this matters a lot. As it turned out, a compromise of such a kind can be more dangerous than the acceptance of an exorbitant bribe.
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