Oleg Cernei, a deputy of the Chisinau Municipal Council [city legislature], who is running for Parliament as an independent candidate, maintains that the Chisinau Primaria [city government] systematically practices the illicit repayment of considerable sums to prosecutors, judges and police bosses to help them obtain “social housing”, i.e. dwellings intended theoretically for low-income families.

 

Cernei, a de-jure member of the Liberal Party, stated at a news conference at Infotag today that in 2012-2014, the Chisinau Primaria, acting in accordance with writs of execution, repaid more than 25 million lei to the above-mentioned “necessary people”, including 8.3 million lei in 2013 and 6.9 million lei this year.

 

“Court chairpersons, police commissars, judges and prosecutors have thus received almost one million lei each – for buying social dwellings. The money was provided to them contrary to the law because the payments were made without permission by the Municipal Council. Moreover, all the documents for the ‘needy civil servants’ were prepared by Primaria clerks, who received 5-10% of the sums intended for the beneficiaries concerned. The money was repaid on the basis of the so-called “amicable agreements”, though I would call them “public money division agreements””, said Oleg Cernei.

 

He said that at a recent working meeting of the Chisinau Municipal Council, he requested Veronica Herta, Director of the Municipal Finance Department, to give him the list of such beneficiaries of the public means, but he hasn’t received such a list until now.

 

“I just wanted to see if by any chance included high-ranked fraudsters already having apartments, lands, luxury cars, who have received in addition a million lei each from the municipal budget”, said Oleg Cernei.

 

The municipal councilor demanded from the recipients to return the illicitly acquired money, otherwise he said he would demand from law enforcement agencies to check the legitimacy of providing the money.

 

“I will also demand from the Embassy of the United States, which country finances the MoI reform in Moldova, to make the ministry subject its police officers to a lie-detector test to find out if they have other housing or other essential property. We just want to learn how public means are plundered in Chisinau”, said Oleg Cernei.

 

According to him, the Chisinau Primaria allocates hectares of lands to ‘essential’ judges and prosecutors “who are corrupt more than anybody else here”.

 

“Meanwhile, more than 20 thousand young families in Chisinau continue to live in workers’ hostels. How can we give a chance for housing to young families with modest incomes in conditions when some civil servants steal millions from the public budget?” wondered the municipal councilor.