On Thursday, May 18, at 2:00 p.m., the first court hearing will be held in the Chisinau Airport concession case, in which eight former high-ranking officials are defendants. Among them is the former prime minister, Iurie Leancă, who served as interim prime minister in 2013 when the transaction was concluded. The file also includes the names of former Minister of Economy, Valeriu Lazăr, the director of the Public Property Agency, Tudor Copaci, the former acting general director of ÎS Aeroportul International Chisinau at the time, Petru Jardan, and other public officials. In recent years, the Center for Journalistic Investigations has conducted several investigations on the Chisinau Airport concession, uncovering fraudulent schemes, conflicts of interest, and procedural irregularities. The investigations can be read HERE and HERE.

The Chisinau International Airport concession case was brought before the court on May 2 and is being managed the judge Djeta Chistol at the Chisinau Court, Buiucani headquarters.

According to the prosecution, the concession of the airport resulted in a loss of over 392 million lei to the state. Veronica Dragalin, the head of Anti-corruption, stated that there is indisputable evidence against the eight defendants, and 20 witnesses will be called to testify.

Dragalin also mentioned that, in order to recover the damages, the Anticorruption Prosecutor's Office, in collaboration with ARBI CNA, has applied for the seizure of assets belonging to Avia Invest SRL and the defendants, both domestically and abroad, totaling approximately 189 million lei.

The accused have denied their guilt, and the former Minister of Economy, seemingly on behalf of all the defendants, has declared that he will insist on public court hearings to present "materials that demonstrate the perfectly legal basis for the concession of Chisinau International Airport assets" to the court and anyone interested.