​MOLDOVAN EXPERTS AND POLITICIANS VIEWING FILAT’S CONVICTION DIFFERENTLY

Moldovan independent experts and politicians are expressing differing opinions on the Monday’s conviction of former Moldovan Prime Minister Vlad Filat.

Chisinau political analyst Roman Mihaes said in a conversation with an Infotag correspondent that the 9-year sentence to Filat marked the beginning of a real struggle against corruption in Moldova.

“This is a victory won by the National Anti-Corruption Center (NACC) and by the Prosecutor General’s Office because they have managed to prove the guilt of a high-ranked state official in an intricate procedural case. The very fact of conviction of a corrupt official signifies also the meeting of the demands of the European Union and the IMF as a necessary condition for continuation of the funding of reforms in Moldova. There is yet a third important moment: the society has received a signal that punishment shall reach everybody who has a relation to the theft of a billion euros from the Moldovan banking sector”, said Roman Mihaes.

On the contrary, DA Platform Party Deputy Chairman Alexandru Slusari maintains that the Filat trial has demonstrated that there is not even a hint of a judiciary reform in Moldova.

“The Moldovan society seems to be paying salaries to most of local judges just for nothing. Despite tremendous public repercussions of the trial of Filat (because up to 15% GDP size was stolen), the closed-door process held for over half a year was but a spit in the face of the Moldovan society and the international community. Judging by the sayings of lawyer Igor Popa and prosecutor Adriana Betisor, Filat will spend next 9 years for bribes. As for the billion euros, this topic was not practically touched on in the Filat case”, said Alexandru Slusari.

In his words, he has a strong impression that in October 2015, Plahotniuc decided to sacrifice his already humiliated partner from the 2010-2015 coalition for the sake of averting a protest wave from himself and receiving an absolute power.

“After the Filat trial, each soberly-minded person has remained with questions to the Coordinator of the ruling coalition [Plahotniuc]. And the first question is: what about the stolen billion? And the second: what about the responsibility of those who were stealing money from banks in 2013-2014? Of those who saw all that and must have put an end to the siphoning off, but did not? Why haven’t they answered according to the law until presently? The documents already published are indicating that if all these guys are brought to stand the law, Moldova will have to build a new spacious prison. But a real, in-depth investigation into the bank fraud is not in Plahotniuc’s plans because this can upset the current criminal situation in Moldova, which Plahotniuc is trying to present to the West as stability”, said Alexandru Slusari.

Man of business Viorel Topa (Banca de Economii President in 1999-2001) said that all this is certainly not a struggle against corruption “because corruption cannot struggle against itself”.

“For Plahotniuc, the setting of a struggle against corruption in motion would mean a suicide. Filat’s removal from the scene has nothing to do with the stolen billion. I think Premier Filat was receiving a generous commission for remaining blind and deaf, but he was not indeed able to steal the billion. For such a tremendous fraud, one has to have control over the Prosecutor General’s Office, the National Bank, the National Anti-Corruption Center and other state agencies. And in Moldova, every child knows who controls all these institutions and, accordingly, who the only beneficiary of the stolen billion is”, said Viorel Topa.

In the understanding of the businessman [sentenced in absentia in Moldova], the fact that Prosecutor General Corneliu Gurin spoke in the Parliament [in October 2015] about “available undisputable proofs”, which were not eventually mentioned by prosecutor Adriana Betisor during the trial, is but an evidence that the entire trial is a fabricated political show.

“I am convinced that there certainly are things for which Filat should stand court. But he received his sentence not for this. With the public punishment of Vlad Filat, Plahotniuc is trying to intimidate his enemies, but most of all – his friends. This is his traditional repertoire. In other words, under the pretext of struggle against corruption, he is just preparing a clean field for himself, and Filat is not an important figure here but just a bugbear for potentially disobedient opponents to the incumbent Moldova rulers”, said the former BEM president.

Moldovan political scientist MP Bogdan Tardea, a Socialist, believes that the verdict for Filat and the entire trial look more like a reprisal.

“How could Filat steal a billion euros when there are such mighty structures as the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Information and Security Service, the National Anti-Corruption Center that are fully under Plahotniuc’s control? And who signed the decision on issuing 15 billion lei [NBM’s credit in support of the BEM]? The answer is, those were then-prime ministers Iurie Leanca and Chiril Gaburici. Why are they at large? And Dorin Dragutanu [then-President of the NBM] who sanctioned those credits, why is he at large? And if the trial of Filat was not a reprisal, then why was it held behind closed doors? Why were witnesses intimidated? How could Shor and Leanca, suspected of a theft, give evidence? Why was the puppeteer [Plahotniuc] not included at least into the list of witnesses, if it is impossible to start a criminal litigation against him? O, there are so many questions. But the main of them are: where is the billion stolen from Moldovan banks, and where is the US$250 million received by Vlad Filat? The conclusion is: somebody is trying to shoulder on ex-premier Filat responsibility for everything that used to happen in Moldova, and also to present the trial of Filat as a large-scale campaign of an alleged struggle against corruption in Moldova”, said the parliamentarian.

The Deputy Chairman of Our Party, Nicolae Tipovici, who spent several months in custody in 2014 and 2015, regarded the Filat trial as an imitation of justice.

“The sudden and unexplainable slump from 19 years, which the Prosecution demanded initially for Filat, down to 9 years given by the court is telling much, too. I think that was the result of bargaining, in which Filat’s assets were the stake. Well, let’s see who will be the next clown in this political circus”, said the politician.