Chisinau, March 18 (Infotag). Former Moldovan President Petru Lucinschi believes the MIG case should be closed down. “That’s what will happen very soon if only Moldova really has independent justice and independent, non-partisan investigation”, Lucinschi told a news conference in Infotag today. He reminded the MIG-21 jet fighters were sold in 1997, when he was President of this republic, but the decision concerning the sale was take yet earlier, in 1996. That year, a South Korean company offered $93.5 million for all the 27 MIGs. “At the last moment, the U.S. Department of State informed us that the plains might go to Iran. In that case, Washington threatened to use sanctions against Moldova. The USA itself offered $40 million for 21 jet fighters. The sides signed an appropriate contract, and the deal was thus made. On November 27, 1997 the money arrived in Chisinau”, he said. Petru Lucinschi stressed, “The decision to sell the planes to the United States was a political one, and the only correct one. We enlisted the U.S.’ support, including in the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and at joining the World Trade Organization. In 1997, Moldova was included into the U.S.’ Action Plan for Southeast Europe. All that brought great benefits for this republic”. Besides the above-mentioned contract, the sides signed also a separate Declaration between the Moldovan Ministry of Defense and the U.S. Department of Defense stipulating that the United States would render free technical and humanitarian assistance to Moldovan armed forces and other organizations. “That assistance was considerable. It should not be regarded as compensation for the airplanes. Rather, that was a friendly step by the United States. The Declaration is still working”, said the ex-President. “The MIG sale was advantageous to us, both economically and politically. We were then in the first years of independence, and it was very important to shape our international image and reputation. Nobody in the world had objections to that regard, and only in Chisinau some MIG-related questions appear periodically. But they are absolutely unfounded. This is a disgrace for Moldova”, stated Lucinschi. As the country leadership decided to sell the MIGs only through state structure, that work was entrusted to the then Minister of Defense Valeriu Pasat who is in custody now, Lucinschi said. “I can state there was no violations then. We sought to make a clean, honest transaction, and took a correct decision, well in constitutional frame. Those now speaking about a damage inflicted to the State are driven by the logic of merchants, not statesmen. Pasat is being charged of damage worth $53 million. This is the difference between the sum promised to us for selling 27 MIGs to Iran and the sum we received from America for the 21 MIGs we sold. Somebody seems to be unwilling to see the essence of the sale question, and the fact that the remaining 6 MIGs failed to be realized in all the subsequent 8 years, not to mention the American political and economic backing Moldova has received”, the ex-President said. Asked about his attitude to Pasat’s arrest, Lucinschi replied, “It’s a question not for me”, and said that in past years, the MIG case was examined by the General Prosecutor's Office several times, and by ad hoc parliamentary commissions, but nobody could find whatever breaches of law. “I gave evidence to the case, too, and I am ready to repeat once again all what I know”, he said.