TRANSPORT MINISTER SUSPENDED FROM POST

Moldovan Minister of Transport and Road Infrastructure Iurie Chirinciuc, suspected of corruption, has been dismissed from his post. A corresponding decision was signed by Prime Minister Pavel Filip back on May 12, but it was published only on Tuesday.

The document says that Chirinciuc is suspended from function for the period of investigation.

Meanwhile, ministerial duties will be fulfilled by Deputy Minister Sergiu Bucataru.

Chirinciuc was detained on April 27 by National Anti-Corruption Center (NACC) officers. Besides, head of the State Road Administration Veaceslav Teleman and a number of other officials were detained back then. They are accused of corruption and abuse of power. Several accusations were charged against Chirinciuc, including getting of bribe of 50 thousand euros. The moment of bribe taking was recorded on video camera and published in internet.

Prosecutors addressed to Prime Minister Pavel Filip with the proposal to dismiss Chirinciuc from post. The head of the Government satisfied the proposal, but did not address to Moldovan President with the proposal to dismiss Chirinciuc and appoint a new Minister. Earlier, this is what Filip did in relation to former Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Eduard Grama. It is possible that the Transport Minister was not dismissed officially from the political point of view – Liberal Party, which is still a part of the ruling coalition headed by DP leader Vlad Plahontiuc, is categorically against it.