Integrity

Filip Government: interests, properties and businesses

Guvernul Filip, la ceremonia de depunere a jurământului în fața președintelui Nicolae Timofti // Foto: presedinte.md
Author: Anticoruptie.md
20/01/2016 37052

The Government headed by Pavel Filip has in its componence new names, but they are known in political field. The majority of new-old ministers were part of the investigations carried out previously by the Center for Investigative Journalism that revealed the hidden interests and businesses of their families. 

Pavel Filip, Prime-Minister

Pavel Filip was elected Minister of Information Technology and Communication in 2011. He was director of the Enterprise "Bucuria" between 2001-2008. Before that, he worked for different offices in the same enterprise. Then, in 2008, he managed the enterprise "Tutun-CTC", until he was appointed head of the Ministry.

According to the income statement for 2014, Filip received a salary of minister amounted at almost 148.000 lei. He did not have companies registered on his name but he owns shares in SA "Bucuria" estimated at 724 titles. Also, Tatiana Filip, his wife, received in 2014 over 190.000 lei. She works for SRL Burex, a company which is officially owned by the 2 children of family Filip. Iulian and Dumitru own together 99% of this enterprise that manages the sweets shop "Ciocoville", on boulevard Stefan cel Mare si Sfant in Chisinau. Dumitru Filip is founder of another SRL, Interasig-Grup, that has auxiliary activities of insurance and pensions’ insurance. The company was registered in September 2013.

Filip declared 2 plots in village Panasesti, district Straseni, a part of them was inherited in 2004 and others- in 2012, a house with a surface of 54, 3 square meters inherited in 2004 and situated in the same village. The minister was investigated by CNI after the newspaper Ziarul National wrote that Pavel Filip sells a house at the price of 179.000 euros in Chisinau, registered on the name of his wife. In the statements for 2012 and 2013, the official showed that the cadastral value of the house is about 943.000 lei (about 50.000 euros). The Commission closed the case and said that the official has not violated the law. According to the income statement, the house was sold in 2014 at the price of 3 million lei.

Ziarul de Garda writes that actually the official has not shown the luxury house where he lives. The house is situated on str. Vasile Pogor from sector Buiucani of the capital. "The house is very big, with a surface of over 300 square meters, purchased in 2011 by Dumitru Filip, one of the 2 sons of the current minister. Dumitru Filip is about 24 years old now; he was born in August 1991. He was 20 when he became owner of this luxurious house. The house is estimated at over 7 million lei based on market price, though the value registered at Cadaster is just 2, 8 million lei and the land where the house is built cost 600.000 lei. Information from Cadaster shows that the building is covered with metal roofing and walls are made of limestone. The neighbors confirm that Pavel Filip lives in this luxury house ", writes ZdG.

In 2014, family Filip sold one of the 2 cars- a BMW 329, 2006, purchased in 2006, though this car was included in the statement for 2013. Later, just a BMW X5, 2007 is registered, that was bought at the price of 400.000 lei in the same year. Reporters of the Center for Investigative Journalism said previously that Pavel Filip is one of the officials who rented forest in the region Danceni-Sociteni.

Gheorghe Brega – deputy prime minister

The new-old deputy prime minister on social problems is the former liberal MP Gheorghe Brega. He was interim PM after the Government Strelet was dismissed. During 1989-2004, Brega was head of the Department of Urology and then he activated as urological surgeon in a private health center. In 2009, he decided to enter politics, becoming MP on the lists of the Liberal Party and being elected deputy prime minister for social affairs in the Government of Strelet on July 30, 2015.

According to property statement, in 2014 MP Gheorghe Brega raised a salary of over 155,000 lei and incomes estimated at 100,000 from allowances and pensions. The Liberal owns outside the built-up areas in Criuleni, Dubasari, a flat with a surface of 78 square meters, a garage and a car Opel Astra, 1998. Brega's name figured in a scandal on the pharmaceutical market, moldovacurata.md reports. Thus, in summer 2012, the MP accused the Romanian pharmaceutical company Balkan Pharmaceuticals of producing poor quality drugs. According to him, the company is favored at registration of its medicines and wins tenders for the purchase of medicines in state health institutions, in spite of high prices. The company from Romania said that his accusations are groundless; implying that Brega himself has interests in the pharmaceutical market and protects certain drug companies.

In early 2013, MP Brega came with a controversial initiative to amend the Law on drugs, the Criminal Code and Contravention Code.  The daily newspaper "Adevarul" Moldova made reference to experts who said that Brega’s idea is an obstacle to domestic production of medicines and provides a legal loophole to small traffickers of drugs and psychotropic substances and abolished them from criminal punishment.

The MP proposed that the law is supplemented by a new chapter – “Preventing and Combating Illicit Manufacturing and trafficking in doping substances with high risk "by inserting an annex of a few pages with “high-risk” substances, including marijuana, cannabis and cocaine, which the MP claims that they can be used in healthcare. Both the Government and the National Anti-Corruption Centre rejected this bill, but the Liberal insisted on the document to be voted in Parliament.

In the same year, media wrote that in 2003, when he was head of Department at the Institute of Oncology, the newly interim prime minister assaulted a nurse on the halls of the institution. Brega hit the woman and caused an intracranial hemorrhage, wrote Adevarul. According to the newspaper, the director of the hospital in that period requested the dismissal of the doctor, but Gheorghe Brega challenged the order at the Court of Appeal getting a favorable judgment. Subsequently, the Supreme Court of Justice disqualified the conclusions of the judges and considered the decision of the Court of Appeal as illegal.

George Balan – deputy prime minister

George Balan was elected deputy prime minister, after he has served as head of the Bureau for Reintegration of the Government since 2010. Also, he has been head of the Division of Information and Analysis of the State Chancellor’s office since 2008. He is lecturer at the Academy of Public Administration in Moldova. The biography posted on the website of the Government shows that he studied economy, international relations and security (1996–1998), but the institutions where he studied is not included. Also, between 1992 and 1996, he studied at the National School of Political and Administrative Studies in Romania. Between 1981 and 1992 he did general studies at the University „Alexandru Ioan Cuza” in Iasi.

Though over the last 8 years, he was elected in important offices in the Government, Balan made public just some income and interest statements.  In 2012, he bought an apartment with a surface of 70 square meters in Chisinau while he showed incomes from his job– 127.000 lei and 5.339 lei from the office of expert at IPP. The following year, Balan showed that he lived on the salary from the Office for Reintegration – 134.000 lei and of his wife - 98.000 lei, money obtained from the activity of the financial-banking sector. In 2014, the official did not include the income of his wife, his house and showed an annual salary estimated at 134.000 lei. He did not report any car, plots or banking assets in his statements.

Andrei Galbur – deputy-prime minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration

Andrei Galbur has been deputy-minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration since March 2015 up to present. He was appointed for this seat in the Government Gaburici. Previously, as of November 2012 he was Moldovan Ambassador in the Russian Federation and his candidacy was approved by the former PM Vlad Filat. Galbur  made his career in diplomacy, and he was employed (in October 1995) in the diplomatic service of the Republic of Moldova, as attaché of the Directorate General for Europe and Northern America, where he handled  cases of bilateral cooperation with a range of European states and North America.

In the period 2000 – 2004, Andrei Galbur activated as I Secretary at the Moldovan Embassy in Austria and has been deputy resident representative at international organizations in Vienna. Then, he was transferred to the central apparatus of the Ministry to the office of head of General Direction of International Security. In July 2005, he became head of the Department of Multilateral Cooperation. In the period 2007 – 2009, he has been minister- adviser of the Moldovan embassy in US and from December 2009 to August 2010, he was  interim business attaché in Washington. When he returned from the mission, Andrei Galbur was appointed head of the General Direction of Multilateral Cooperation and manages cases related to the relations of the Republic of Moldova with international organizations, mainly OSCE, NATO, Council of Europe, UNO and its relevant institutions.

According to the income statement, Galbur received in 2014 a salary estimated at 127.000  lei for his office of ambassador in Moscow. Also, he received an indemnity worth 21.839  euro. He does not own a house, except a garage which he inherited. Also, he owns 2 cars: Volkswagen-Passat, which he inherited in 2008 and a car Toyota LC, purchased in 2014 at the price of 450.000 lei when he was ambassador in Moscow. Also, he owns 3 bank deposits worth 8.000 lei,  and 2 current accounts with 6.000 Russian roubles.

One year after he became ambassador, the press wrote information about 60 luxury cars with diplomatic numbers, attributed to the Moldovan Embassy in the Russian Federation. These details were revealed in May 2013 by journalists of the portal Deschide.md.  The reporters said that the cars Bentley, BMW, Mercedes and Skoda were estimated at millions of euros. These cars were also used by the businessman Ilan Shor and his wife, singer Jasmin. A criminal case was started to this effect but it was not solved.

Ion Sturza criticized the decision to appoint Andrei Galbur as Minister of Foreign Affairs. The businessman wrote in a post on his Facebook page that “details are very important in diplomacy". "After the „experience” from Moscow, you suddenly become very good for European integration? Or the Ministry of Integration will be established and the foreign policy will address only relations with Russia?”, wonders rhetorically Ion Sturza.

Monica Babuc – Ministry of Culture

Monica Babuc does not have any companies registered on her name. Her husband Anatolie Babuc, deputy director of the Department of Logistics at Moldtelecom founded SRL Building Line (100% of shares) and Bazis-D SRL (15% of shares).  In December 2013, the company Building Line lost a trial filed by Investprivatbank (according to the income statement for 2014, the husband of the minister had a share of 0, 05% in Investprivatbank), financial institution under liquidation. Thus, the company of the Minister’s husband was supposed to pay 11,7 million lei, 7 million of lei of which was a credit that was not paid in set terms and the rest of almost 4 million lei, were penalties. In her property statement from last year, the minister said that the company Building Line is in process of liquidation, and Bazis-D has not had shares as of 1998. Monica Babuc’s family owns 2 apartments: one with a surface of 37 square meters and another one - of 73 square meters. The minister showed that she has one car: Chrysler1999 purchased in 2005. In 2014, Monica Babuc received a salary worth 140.000 lei, and her husband – almost 230.000 lei.

Vladimir Cebotari – Ministry of Justice

Vladimir Cebotari remains in the office of minister of Justice, though he does not have any connection with the field which he was appointed several months ago. He is known to the public as the best paid managers employed by the state. In 2012, he was manager at AIR Moldova, Chisinau International Airport and the Civil Aviation Authority and he received an annual salary worth over 800.000 lei.  He served as deputy minister of Transportation for 2 years and in April 2015, following a contest organized by the Administration Council of the Enterprise Moldovan Railway; he was appointed director of the institution.

Previously, the portal Clean Moldova wrote that Vladimir Cebotari did not show incomes from 3 companies: SRL Vlaconic (95% of shares) and SRL C&V Asistenta (50% of shares), SRL Neaos, company specialized in trade with agricultural and industrial cars, where the official owns 15% of shares. According to the State Registration Chamber, in 2012 the company had an income from sales estimated at 8.912.000 lei.  In the property statement for 2012, Vladimir Cebotari did not show this company. CNI investigated the case but it has not registered any violation and closed the case. The former head from Moldovan Railway has an apartment in Chisinau, but he lives in a two storey house. Half of the house is owned by him.  He did not show the cadastral value of the house in the income statement. He said that it is under construction, writes portal Clean Moldova.

Alexandru Jizdan – Interior Ministry

Alexandru Jizdan is one of the most controversial members of the Government Filip. The colonel started his activity at the Interior Ministry in 1995. 7 years ago, he was decorated by Gheorghe Papuc, the then-Interior Minister, as he completed commitments during the events from April 2009. In 2010, he was appointed head of the Department of Operative Services within MAI and he was dismissed in February 2013 because of the scandal related to the hunting in “Padurea Domneasca”.  In 2014, he participated in the creation of the Association of Veterans of the Operative Services of the Interior Ministry. In October 2015, he was appointed director of the Service of Information and Security.

As head of the organization, Alexandru Jizdan criticized the reform of the Interior Ministry, initiated by the former minister Dorin Recean. Recently, he was mentioned in an investigation carried out by Rise Moldova. The journalists revealed that Jizdan is one of the close people to Renato Usatii, chairman of “Our Party” and he was fielded for the office of head of SIS by the democrat MP Vladimir Plahotniuc.

According to the income statement for 2014, Alexandru Jizdan received a salary estimated at 209.000 lei and a pension estimated at over 62.000  lei. Family of  Jizdan owns an apartment with a surface of about 70 square meters, purchased in 2000 and 2 cars: Subaru Legacy, 2006  purchased in 2007 and a car Volkswagen Golf, manufactured and purchased in 2013.

Iurie Chirinciuc – Ministry of Transportation

The Ministry of Transportation and Road Infrastructure will be headed by current liberal MP and businessman Iurie Chirinciuc. He was patron of the Football Club Costuleni (his native village) and president of the territorial Organization Ungheni of PL. Chirinciuc is one of the richest ministers. He has many businesses in the Republic of Moldova and Romania. He lives in the capital together with his wife and his 2 children in a house with a surface of 225 square meters. He owns a car Lexus GX470, 2005, 3 plots in  Iasi, Romania. Also, in Romania he has an apartment with a surface of 76 square meters and 3 other properties.

Iurie Chirinciuc is the only shareholder of the concern Moldacom Grup SRL, with the central office in Iasi, specialized in furniture production. Last year, he received an income estimated at 39.000 Romanian lei. This company is managed by his wife Tamara Chirinciuc. According to Ziarul de Garda, she was condemned to 8 months of imprisonment in Romania in 2013 because she purchased furniture in San Marino and sold it in Estonia without paying customs duties.

The liberal MP has shares in other 5 Moldovan companies, 2 of them relate to fruits and vegetables processing and tinning and other two-  in furniture production, all of them placed in Ungheni. Except the salary from the company Moldacom Grup, the liberal shows in the income statement the sum estimated at over 52.000 lei, from the company Rovigo SRL whose director he was in the period 1998-2013,  writes the CV. Otherwise, the politician is founder and former president of the Association of Furniture Producers in the Republic of Moldova.

Anatol Salaru – Ministry of Defense

Anatol Salaru, former Minister of Transportation in the period 2009-2013, was appointed head at the Ministry of Defense. According to the income statement for last year, the liberal MP owns 2 apartments in Chisinau with a surface of 55 and 29 square meters respectively, 3 plots; a banking deposit amounted at 30.000 euros and a car Mercedes, 1996. His wife, Carolina Salaru is manager of the company FoodStock SRL, with the central office in Bucharest. He has an apartment with a surface of 186 square meters in the capital of Romania where the whole family is settled.

Over the years, Anatol Salaru has worked in the Financial Group Ascom-Grup of the billionaire Anatol Stati, and he was director of the representation in Turkmenistan (1997-1999) and Iraq (2003-2008). His name is related to the scandal “ of renovated European trains” from Moldovan railway. In 2012, when he was Minister, he signed an agreement estimated at over 12 million euros with the society RMAR Pascani in Romania for complete renovation of 5 trains, but the trains broke shortly after modernization. A criminal case was opened to this effect, but it was closed because of lack of evidence.

Corina Fusu – Ministry of Education

Minister of Education, liberal MP Corina Fusu graduated the Faculty of Biology. She activated in journalism for about 30 years. She was elected Minister of this institution, after the Ministry of Education was managed by Maia Sandu for 3 years. The liberal MP was criticized many times by the public opinion for the fact that she stopped the process of reforms in education, launched by Maia Sandu.

In the property statement for 2014, she showed the salary worth 160.000 lei from the activity of MP and an indemnity estimated at 13.000  lei. Fusu also owns a plot with a surface of 0,064 hectares in Anenii-Noi and an apartment with a surface of 86 square meters with a cadastral value of almost half of million lei.

Corina Fusu did not show in her income statements that she has 10% of shares in a company. It is about „Alfort-Prim” SRL, registered in 1999 and is not active but it is included in the register of the State Registration Chamber. According to the official data, the company managed the wholesale trade based on fees or contracts, activities of market research and public opinion poll, brokerage for selling a wide variety of goods etc. Moreover, the company has its official office in the apartment of the family of the MP on str. Academiei in Chisinau.

Valeriu Munteanu – Ministry of Environment

Valeriu Munteanu, deputy chairman of PL, is a bachelor in Law. Before 2009, when he became MP, he was project director in different public associations and mayor in the native village, in Floreni, Anenii-Noi (2007).

Last year, he received over 150.000  lei from the activity of MP and a sum of 116.000  lei – from indemnities. The liberal MP has a house in Floreni with a surface of 220 square meters.

Ruxanda Glavan – Ministry of Health

Ruxanda Glavan has been Minister of Labor, Social Protection and Family as of February 18, 2015. Then she was elected head at the Ministry of Health. Also, she has served as deputy chairwoman at the Ministry of Labor, Social Protection and Family for 2 years. She has medical studies and MBA in Grenoble, France. She renounced on the profession of doctor and started businesses.

In 2006-2013, Ruxanda Glavan has been director of the company Glavirux SRL, specialized in import and distribution of medical equipment, pharmaceutical medicines, cosmetics and hygiene products. This company was investigated by the public opinion after the lawyer Ana Ursachi charged Glavan in 2013 of being involved in a smuggling scheme with devices for glucose measurement in Moscow, Russia.  

Though she is not manager of the company anymore, Ruxanda Glavan  is the only shareholder of this company. According to the Public Procurement Agency, from 2012 until present, Glavirux SRL signed about 120 procurement agreements with the state and offered equipment, products and medical tests to medical-sanitary institutions on the whole territory of Moldova, amounted at some thousands of lei. These comprise 3 agreements and 3 additional agreements of increase signed with the medical Association Centru in Chisinau, whose head is Ruxanda Glavan’s mother, Adela Glavan.

She lives together with her husband Aureliu Cincilei, deputy-governor of the Moldova National Bank, in a luxury villa in the sector Rascani of the capital. The house with a total surface of 349 square meters is estimated to 9 million lei by relevant experts. According to the income statement for 2013, the couple owns a house, 2 apartments, 2 cars Toyota and Lexus, 3 plots and 16 banking accounts.  

In 2014, the National Integrity Commission ordered a control on the name of Aureliu Cincilei related to the violation of the regime of declaring incomes and properties for 2013, and in May current year, CNI found that he did not include in his income statement many cars and 30 banking accounts owned together with his wife. Also, CNI decided to close the case on the ground of “lack of intentioned violation”.

According to the income statement for 2014, Ruxanda Glavan received a salary estimated at 50.000  lei  and 80.000 thousands lei from indemnities. Her husband for a salary worth  740.000  lei from BNM  and a sum of 30.000 lei from the office of President of Eurocreditbank.

Eduard Grama – Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry

He is deputy director of the Customs Office Chisinau and former general director of the company „Chateau Vartely” in Orhei. So far, he served as deputy minister of Agriculture and he was appointed in May 2015 in the componence of the Government Gaburici and then reconfirmed in the Cabinet headed by Valeriu Strelet. In December, he tendered his resignation.  

Portal Clean Moldova wrote previously that Grama became student at the age of 30 when he studied for a 7 year period at the Faculty of Law of the Nistrean Institute of Economy and Law in Balti.  “Studies in Balti was a joke. When I worked in Soroca, I lived there for 2 years, I had a factory of sunflower hybrids and together with my friend, we decided to apply at the faculty of Law. (...) I did not have time to study, I worked”, said the official for journalists.

In the income statement for 2014, Grama included the salary of 88.582 lei from the activity of deputy-head of the Customs Office in Chisinau. His wife Tatiana Grama, manages a business in the field of food and winemaking- society „Poliproiect” – and he got an income worth over 50.000 lei. The couple owns a plot for constructions with a surface of 0,106 hectares, a house with a surface of 163, 7 square meters and 2 auxiliary facilities with a surface of 29, 8 and 59,5 square meters respectively, all of them purchased in 2013. Family Grama has 2 banking loans contracted in 2014.

In 2012, Eduard Grama  owns an apartment purchased in 2007 at the price of half of million of lei and a car Skoda Superb, purchased in 2012, which he sold  and this was included in the statement for the following year. Also, in 2013, except the salary estimated at over 100.000 lei, his wife received an inheritance estimated at half of million lei. The name of the donor was not shown in the statement.

Victor Zubcu – Ministry of Youth and Sport

He is 33 and is an activist of PD. The official CV of the candidate is not shown on the official webpage of the Ministry of Youth and Sport (MTS), institution where he has activated as deputy- minister from March 2015 to present. He was appointed for this office, after he served as deputy-minister at the Ministry of Regional Development and Constructions (MDRC). Prime TV reported in 2013 that Victor Zubcu found that he would become deputy minister at MDRC from the prime- deputy minister of democrats Vlad Plahotniuc, in a youth camp of PD, held in Orhei.

In 2005, he was general secretary of the Democratic Youth in PD and in 2007- president of the Federation of Students’ and Youth Organizations in Moldova. In 2005, Zubcu activated as coordinator of the central Apparatus of the Democratic Party.

In his property statement for 2014, he showed incomes estimated at about 124.000 lei – salary from MDRC. Also, he had 2 cards for salaries with a sum of over 1.500 lei. According to the data from the declaration, Zubcu does not own a house or car.

Stela Grigoras – Ministry of Labor, Social Protection and Family

Stela Grigoras is director of AO „Partnership for every child”, an organization with the initial name „Every Child”. She is PhD in Sociology, Social Protection, of Family and Child. The organization she manages is known owing to many projects of residential system reform. The information on its official website reports that as of April 2010 to November 2011, Stela Grigoras was member and deputy-chairman of the Consultative Ad-hoc Group for problems of children’ rights and social services (CSS – CRS) of the Council of Europe. In 2002, she has been active member of the boarding council of the International Foster Care Organization (IFCO), and she was head of this organization in 2008-2009. Currently, she is deputy-chairperson of this Organization from 2009.

Also, Stela Grigoras is member of the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect and of the National Society of Social Assistants. She is one of the founders of the Alliance of active NGOs in the field of child and family protection in Moldova. She was part of the College of the Ministry of Education in the period when the institution was headed by Mihai Sleahtitchi. According to the magazine „VIP Magazin”, she is the only woman who delivered a speech in the Chamber of Lords in London, aimed to inform the British lawmakers about the need of investments on behalf of the Kingdom to improve the situation of children and families in the Republic of Moldova.  

Stela Grigoras has not presented any statements on incomes and property as she comes from NGO sector. Her husband, Vasile Grama, who was director of the Center for Financing the Fundamental and Applicative Research within the Moldova Science Academy, submitted a statement on incomes and properties in 2012 and shows that he raised about 93.000 lei from the activity at the Academy and from that of professor at UTM. Grama received a sum of 103 thousands lei, from the NGO managed by his wife for the activity of engineer-consultant. Also, the income of his wife, Stela Grigoras is estimated at 730.000  lei.

At chapter of Real Estate, Grama declared, without showing the cadastral value, a plot of 0,06 hectares purchased in 2009, a plot of 0,03 hectares and an agricultural land of 4,4 hectares purchased in 2012. The last two plots were inherited. Also, without showing the cadastral value, Vasile Grama declared 2 apartments, of 120 and 240 square meters respectively, purchased in 1991 and 2007 respectively, 2 houses, one half finished  (in 2012), of 500 square meters and another one of 70 square meters and a garage of 180 square meters purchased in 2007.  According to the same statements, family Grama-Grigoras does not own any cars.

Stela Grigoras’s husband is co-founder with a share of 34% at the Commercial Society Geometprof SRL, a company registered in one of the apartments of Vasile Grama, whose main activity is services of geodesic researches. In 2012, the company reported a sum of about 600.000 lei incomes from sales. The company has 2 agreements signed with the state, estimated at about 100.000 lei.  Comments from socialization nets reveal that Stela Grigoras is the god-daughter of the MP from PD, Valentina Stratan.

Octavian Armasu – Ministry of Finance

Octavian Armasu graduated the Moldova Technical University in Moldova. In 2002-2006, he studied under CFA Program at „CFA Institute” (USA). He started his career at the company Südzucker Moldova S.A. in 1999, and he is financial director from 2005 until present.

Except the activity in this company, Octavian Armasu is co-founder of another 2 companies. Thus, in late 2009, together with Galina Zablovscaia, Armasu established Rustgal SRL, specialized in trade. The second company, Agro-SZM SRL, more prosperous, was founded in late 2007 together with Victor Hropotinschi and Alexander Koss,  and by the Enterprise Sudzucker-Moldova S.A.which  is a subsidiary of the stock company. The company has a social capital estimated at over 193 million lei, and its main activity is cereals and beans, inclusively production of seeds. In the financial statement from 2012, the company reported 66 million lei of incomes from sales.

Octavian Armasu comes from private sector, that is why, he has not completed any statement on incomes and property so far.

Octavian Calmac - deputy prime minister, Ministry of Economy

Octavian Calmac is from village Bardar, district Ialoveni. He studied at the State University in Moldova, Faculty of Applied Maths, at the Academy of Economic Studies in Moldova and received a diploma in management and at the Institute of Commercial Political Trainings in Geneva.  He has been deputy minister of Economy for a period of 6 years as of October 2009. He was representative of the state in the Managing Council of the Bank of Savings and claims that he does not participated in taking dubious decisions because he was in minority.

In the statement on incomes and property in 2014, Octavian Calmac showed a salary estimated at 164.000  lei and a sum of about 470.000  lei as representative of the state in Moldexpo, Moldova Gaz SA, Center of Applied Metrology and Certification and the Technical Center for Industrial Security, Metalferos and Shop UNIC.

Except it, together with his wife, Angela Capita raised incomes estimated at 44.000  lei from the company which they own– AI-Export SRL, specialized in trading and export of cereals, seeds and fodder for animals. The company reported in 2012, 162.000  lei incomes from sales. Calmac reported 2 houses purchased in 1999 with a cadastral value of almost 700.000 lei and a car Toyota, purchased in 2013 at the price of 18.000 euro. Also, family Calmac has accounts estimated at about one million lei, over 800 US dollars and about 4.000 euros in the banks from the country.

Vasile Bitca – Ministry of Regional Development and Construction

Former policeman Vasile Bitca became Minister of Regional Development and Construction in February 2015 in the Government Gaburici, mandate which he had in the Government Strelet. Active member of PD, Vasile Bitca served as president of the territorial organization of the faction. Vasile Bitca was born in town Nisporeni and started his career in Police. As of 1992 to 1994 he studied at the Special General School of Police of MAI and in the period 2006-2009 he continued his studies at the Academy of Police of MAI.

For activity in Police, and for the participation in the war on Nistru in 1992, Vasile Bitca was decorated many distinctions: medal "For Courage", medal "Commemorative Cross", Order "Faith to Motherland” III grade.  Then, Vasile Bitca renounced on his career in Police and took up politics. As a result of the local scrutiny in 2007, he became deputy mayor of town Nisporeni and in 2011; he was elected president of district Nisporeni. He managed this office until December 2014.

Vasile Bitca was investigated by the press following the scandal of  “electoral alms” from the presidential elections in Romania. Ziarul de Garda wrote that during the first round of the electoral run for the office of president of Romania, held on November 2, 2014, Bitca and his staff from PD corrupted the electors. Those who owned the citizenship of Romania were called on to vote with the candidate Victor Ponta and they were remunerated with money and presents, including watches. The Police Inspectorate in Nisporeni started the investigation of this bribing and then they renounced on investigations as the Moldovan legislation does not stipulate the regulation of the presidential scrutiny in Romania.  

According to the statement on property, the minister has a house with a surface of 160 square meters in Nisporeni, an apartment with a surface of 80 square meters in the center of the capital, many agricultural plots with a surface of over 6 hectares. Natalia Bitca, minister’s wife works for the company Pabinis –Com SRL  in Nisporeni, the founders are Nina and Ludmila Pohomea, sister and niece of Vasile Bitca. The enterprise was favored by Vasile Bitca. From 2013 to 2015, when Vasile Bitca was president of the administration of district Nisporeni, the enterprise benefited from 16 agreements with the Mayoralty Nisporeni and the District Council. These exceed the sum of 5 million lei. The official said that there is not any conflict of interests in these agreements. „My wife is employed at this enterprise and the company owned by the sister and the niece participated in the tender and won the agreements legally. The agreements were signed with the Mayoralty Nisporeni and not with the District Council and there is no conflict of interests”, said Bitca in March. He denies the fact that his family manages other companies. I called „Pabinis-Com” and Natalia Bitca answered the phone. She said that Ludmila Pahomea lives outside the Republic of Moldova. Natalia contradicted her husband, current minister, who said that she is an employee; she is the „manager”. Though, the official said that they do not own other SRLs, the data of the State Registration Chamber report that he together with his wife founded „NV-Pozitiv”, registered in June 2009 with the central office in Chisinau, on str. Sprancenoaia 6/4.

 Vasile Bitca is one of the sponsors of PD and donated 80.000 lei in the electoral period in 2015.On January 13, Vasile Bitca was together with Vlad Plahotniuc in the meeting from the Opera and Ballet Theatre Square and he was the first to announce that the businessman is the candidate of democrats for the seat of PM.  

Vasile Botnari – Ministry of Information Technology and Communication

Vasile Botnari is economist by profession. He has been MP between 2010-2013 and Minister of Transportation and Road Infrastructure between May 31 2013 - July 30, 2015.

Vasile Botnari does not have experience in the field of Information Technology and his activity was related to Transportation.  Thus, in 2000, he was general director of the Company „Chisinau Aeroport Service”, of „Air Moldova” Company and of the Transportation Agency of the Republic of Moldova. The newspaper „Adevarul” Moldova wrote previously that he is a multimillionaire and works for MP Vlad Plahotniuc. From 2003 to 2005, he was representative of the Italian air company "Club Air" in the Republic of Moldova and then he worked as a manager at the company Nobil Air, controlled by Vlad Plahotniuc. Between 2009-2011 he was part of the Administration Council of Victoria bank controlled by  Vlad Plahotniuc.

According to the last declaration on incomes and property for 2013, Vasile Botnari does not own plots, house. He owns a car Skoda, purchased in 2013 at the price of 347.000 lei.  Though officially he does not have a house, the official has bank accounts. In 2012, he showed in the income statement 2 banking accounts, one of 3 million lei and another one of 41.000 dollars. A year later, the bank accounts showed a sum of 20 thousand dollars and about 110.000 lei.

Vasile Botnari  and his wife, Natalia founded 2 companies. His wife is manager and founder of the company A&N Ser­vice SRL, specialized in services. Data from the Chamber of State Registration presents the new minister of Information Technology and Communication as founder of the company SC Vabaro Lux SRL, with the central office in Straseni. Vasile Botnari has a 30% share in a company specialized in carpentry.

In a report in 2013, reporters of Ziarul de Garda wrote that Vasile Botnari is god father of Daniela Guma and Anatolie Moruz, daughter and son in law of Valeriu Guma. On December 30, 2012, one week after the death of the businessman Sorin Paciu in “Padurea Domneasca”, Vasile Botnari participated together with his god’s son and Valeriu Guma in hunting in the natural reservation. 

Irina Vlah, governor of Gagauzia

Irina Vlah  is the governor of UTA Gagauz-Yeri  as of spring 2015. She was the official candidate of the Socialist Party for the post of governor. The press wrote that Vlah was actually the candidate supported by Russia in the recent elections in Gagauzia.

Before she became governor, she was MP in the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova since March 2005 and was elected on the lists of the Community Party. After the elections from November 2014, in the first meeting of the legislative forum, she announced that she quitted the faction and becomes independent MP. Also, she served as head of the Legal Division of UTA Gagauzia and in the period 1996-2003, she was lawyer within the Fiscal Inspectorate in Ceadir-Lunga.

When she was MP, Vlah showed in her property statement the salary from the Parliament and from didactic activity, she was lecturer at the University in Comrat. She did not have a house, plots or companies. In 2012, she bought a car– BMW X3, 2008, that is estimated at 15 thousand dollars following the statement filed in 2014. https://declaratii.cni.md/Documents/cni5/previewDocHas/id/99054 She did not show this car in the statement in the year when she bought it. Irina Vlah said in a RISE report that she is not the owner of the car, that is why she did not include it in the statement. Though she is an MP with modest incomes, in the last electoral campaign for electing the governor of Gagauzia, she had a high expense estimate.

An investigation RISE shows that by March 14 2015, Vlah spent officially for promotion 414 000 lei, of which 20 000 is the personal contribution. Her electoral competitors spent by 4-5 times less. Her brother, businessman Serghei Vlah manages the company S.I. DEMIR-AGRO where their mother Natalia Vlah owns 100% of shares.

This company sponsored her during the elections for the office of governor. The reporters from RISE said that Vlah was supported in the elections by the businessman Iurie Iacubov, who became known after he financed the referendum from February 2 in UTA Gagauzia and he spent over one million lei. This referendum was not accepted by Chisinau and the General Prosecutor’s Office initiated many criminal cases because its organization was illegal. Vlah denied that Iacubov was one of her sponsors while he openly declared his support as he organized a concert in Comrat that had a special guest, the Russian singer Oleg Gazmanov,  and in a video spot, Iacubov called Vlah “Our person”.

The name of Irina Vlah appears in a black list of the candidates in the parliamentary elections from 2009, compiled by Clean Romania that reports that the MP signed and promoted draft laws regarded by specialists as subject to risks of corruptibility and which can harm the public interest. These are the draft law on the privatization of „AIR Moldova”, of the Hotel Complex „Codru”, of the Canteen of the Government  Apparatus and of CETs (Thermal-power plants).

In her office of governor, Irina Vlah paid several trips to Moscow and each time she came with promises of support on behalf of Russia. In summer, last year, following her visit to Moscow, she said that „Gagauzia is the bridge connecting Moscow to Chisinau”.

Gheorghe Duca – president of the Academy of Science of Moldova 

Gheorghe Duca was born on February 29, 1952 in the village Copaceni, Sangerei. He is president of the Moldova Science Academy since 2004. Between 1998 and 2001, he was MP on the list of the Block for a Democratic and Prosperous Moldova (BepMDP) and president of the Parliamentary Commission for culture, science, education and media. Then, he comes to the Legislative on the lists of the Electoral Block „Alianta Braghis” and he is proposed for the office of Minister of Ecology, Constructions and Territorial Development (2001-2004). He is author of many scientific publications, he participated in national and international projects, he got titles and awards etc.

Also, the academician did not write in his biography about April 4 2005 when he accepted to be the counter candidate of the communist leader Vladimir Voronin for the office of president of the state, to validate the procedure of voting in the Parliament. Duca got just one vote. Otherwise, Voronin was re-elected president of the country.

Gheorghe Duca was several times investigated by CNI. In April 2014, the National Integrity Commission (CNI) started a control for violating the legal regime of declaring incomes and properties, of the conflict of interests and that of incompatibility, after jurnal.md wrote that the official did not show all his property in the income statement for 2012. At the category “incomes from alienation of movable and immovable property”, the academician did not report anything, though data from the Cadaster showed that in June 29 2012, he sold a three storey house situated on str. Valea Dicescu in the center of the capital.

Also, the civil society signaled an eventual conflict of interests- taking the decision to transmit almost one hundred hectares of land and of immovable owned by ASM, headed by Gheorghe Duca under the administration of the University of the Moldova Science Academy, whose rector is his wife.

On 23 May 2013, CNI adopted an act establishing the absence of infringement of the legal regime of conflict of interests by Gheorghe Duca. Then the press accused him that he appointed his wife interim rector of the University of the Moldova Science Academy, being in conflict of interests.

Gheorghe Duca reported 9 plots, 6 of them are owned by him and other 3 plots were inherited by his wife. The plots were inherited in the period 2000 and 2008, and one of the plots was supposed to be used for building a house. The president of ASM has a house worth 2 million lei, a garage worth 130 thousands lei and a plot with an unfinished construction estimated at 95 thousands lei registered on the name of the wife. Gheorghe Duca has a luxury car–  Hyundai Tucson, 2011, and 10 bank accounts together with his wife, 2 accounts in euros and one account in dollars. He owns 40 thousand dollars at Unibank. A sum of 3785 euros was registered in 2013 on another account. Also, he owns 10% of shares in SRL Avantchim.  The company develops activities with valuable metals and stones, pawnshops, import, manufacturing, storage, wholesale commercialization of chemical and harmful substances and materials, etc. His wife, Maria Duca has 30% of shares in SRL Excert.

In 2013, Gheorghe Duca and his wife received half of million lei from salaries in just half of year. Their incomes reach one million lei covering the indemnities, pensions and payments for expertise. In 2012, the academician created 3 bank accounts: of 35 thousand dollars, 314 thousands lei and 792 thousands lei. Also, in 2013, he contracted a credit estimated at over 1 million lei with an income rate of 11%.

Gheorghe Duca  was re-elected president of ASM in April 2014 when he won the third consecutive mandate, though the law stipulates just 2 mandates. 

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