Miscellaneous
Renato Usatii – witness in a case that can make the Moldovan politics „explode”
This is what the recent statements made by „ Our Party” leader suggest Usatii – official witness in the case opened against killer Proca.
During a sensational live stream dedicated to the role of Vlad Plahotniuc – the coordinator of the governing coalition, in the „black banker Gorbuntsov” case, the leader of „Our Party” reminded that over the last year he said a couple of times that he has a close cooperation with the law enforcement agencies in several countries on this case.
„From what I understand, there will be an international arrest warrant for Plahotniuc”, Usatii said during a live stream on Tuesday evening.
Usatii hinted that he has every reason to believe that. Moreover, the „Our Party” leader claims to be a witness in the „Gorbuntsov” case investigated in one of the European Union countries.
Moldovan law-enforcement agents are bustling in London.
Many people were surprised to see the Moldovan law-enforcement agencies suddenly and strangely becoming very active. Just two weeks before the presidential election a big delegation flew hastily to London. The entire country has been witnessing events that some politicians perceive as a „shameful joke”: prosecutors and police officers taking pictures on the territory of the Moldovan embassy in London (!) with Gorbuntsov around, who was included in the Interpol’s wanted list at the request of…. the Moldovan law enforcement agencies.
This is when these questions arose: Why this haste and fuss? What made the Moldovan authorities forget the elections, which are very near, and degenerate into something that rather looks like a hysteria that seems to have run out of control a little bit?
Usatii: the new evidence can put Plahotniuc behind bars
Renato Usatii claimed during a live stream to have found out the reasons for Vlad Plahotniuc’s strange behavior. „Special operations revealed many new things about both the attempted murder of Gorbuntsov in London and the one committed in Romania”, he said. Usatii promised to do his best „for the truth to come out as soon as possible”.
„I hope that when the information is confirmed (and most of it has already been confirmed) Plahotniuc will be put behind bars for many years for starting organized crime groups and initiating and coordinating serious crimes in EU countries”, Renato Usatii said.
Are the Police and Prosecution trying to destroy evidence?
Addressing to investigators and prosecutors, Renato Usatii recommended them to be more cautious not to end up as accomplices in covering up crimes committed in EU countries.
„Petrusenco and the prosecutors controlled by Plahotniuc have been trying since 2014 to destroy me and „Our Party” (by destroying evidence – editor’s note). They have not been held liable under the criminal legislation for trying to influence the investigation; they are trying to destroy some evidence and hide something from the investigation that is taking place in Romania and Great Britain”.
„Petrusenco is the policeman from the press conference, the one who was in London to meet with Gorbuntsov together with prosecutors”, explained Usatii.
Usatii: Plahotniuc is fabricating charges against me in order to disorient the investigation
Indeed, the new details related to the testimonies given by killer Vitalie Proca are shocking, suggesting the assumption that over the past four years the Moldovan prosecutors and policemen have been trying hard to influence the criminal investigations in Romania and Great Britain. According to Renato Usatii, he himself is a witness in this case and cannot give too many details, but the statements he made on Tuesday after the press conference held by the Moldovan prosecutors are enough to draw some very interesting conclusions. „I have to stress that everything that I’m saying is documented and are materials in the criminal proceedings”, Renato Usatii said during his video address.
There are attempts to silence killer Proca
Usatii mentioned that Plahotniuc started panicking when, during a phone conversation, Proca, sentenced for contract killing, told him that he wanted to tell the truth. He claims that Plahotniuc is trying to obtain Proca’s extradition from Romania in Moldova „to kill him and hide the traces”. It should be noted that in an interview for one of the Romanian TV channels Proca said that two senior officials put pressure on him to recognize a crime that had been committed in Moldova by somebody else in return for his extradition and early release from jail, provided that he made statements that would criminate Usatii. After Usatii’s yesterday’s video conference the prosecutors became even more active and left for Bucharest in a hurry. Before they left, Proca’s wife and two relatives were arrested in Chisinau for charges of complicity. In the meantime, Proca is in jail in Romania. This information gave rise to reasonable allegations that Plahotniuc is trying to silence Proca.
Extradition
Two Moldovan citizens – Malarciuc and Ceban- were also arrested a couple of days ago. They announced it themselves during a press conference (called „fishy” by Usatii) held by prosecutors and policemen.
The press conference indeed raises several questions, because the most common answer given by the representatives of the law-enforcement agencies to the journalists’ questions was „For the time being we cannot say anything”.
Is Plahotniuc in cahoots with the runaway Gorbuntsov?
Renato Usatii said what the Moldovan policemen and prosecutors discussed with Gorbuntsov who is on Interpol’s wanted list.
„They told Gorbuntsov about the negotiations between Proca and Malarciuc, which, I have to tell you, are taking place, but I cannot give you more details about them now, because Plahotniuc is trying to „wash away his sins”, Renato Usatii said. He added that it is also true that he sent some money to Malarciuc, but this had been agreed with the Romanian law-enforcement agencies, and reminded that in 6 years „they did not touch Proca’s judge, and they did it now because they are afraid of something”. „Yes, this judge’s decision to release Proca was illegal, but you have not done anything with this”, said the leader of „Our Party”.
„Why, Mr. Plahotniuc, did you all get scared when you heard that Proca wants to tell the truth? You have arrested one and then others. It is not clear what you are trying to get from these witnesses”, Renato Usatii addressed Vlad Plahotniuc.
Vlad Plahotniuc offered no comment on Renato Usatii’s statements.
Miscellaneous
Economic expert: Moldova has too many bureaucrats, that incurring additional unnecessary costs
The number of government officials working at various control agencies has increased by 3.5 thousand people from 51.2 thousand in 2011 to 54.8 thousand today. That is while the country’s population has decreased by 343 thousand inhabitants, from 2.93 million in 2011 to 2.6 million in 2021, as being mentioned in an analysis published by the economic expert Veaceslav Ionita.
10 years ago, there was an average of 17.6 bureaucrats per one thousand inhabitants. This figure has increased by over 20%, meaning that today we already have 21.4 bureaucrats per one thousand inhabitants. According to the expert, the number of government bureaucrats in charge of public services is unbalanced when compared to the number of people who would request such public services. “If we keep the rate from 2011, then we would have to reduce the number of bureaucrats by 10 thousand people.”
Nowadays, the costs for a single employee of the bureaucratic system reach 200 thousand lei, including the payments related to salary, bonuses, social expenses, as well as office space and other labor costs. “The maintenance costs of this additional and unnecessary number of bureaucrats amount to at least 2 billion lei annually,” the expert claimed.
The number of government control agencies was reduced from 68 to 19, as being displayed on the official page of the national public services portal. “The number of control institutions were reduced, but not the number of bureaucrats in charge of controls. In the last 4 years alone, the number of permissive acts in Moldova has decreased 3 times. Thousands of people were dealing with unnecessary and harmful activity by offering permits for certain types of activity. Their activity proved to be useless and, consequently, was ended. But the bureaucrats stayed in offices, even though their previous positions were removed. Obviously, all the thousands of people, who have lost the right to control or allow something, started to look for new solutions to ‘milk’ the money from businesses.”
The expert says that the damage caused by the unnecessary activity of such officials amounts to tens of billions lei each year in the form of lack of investment in Moldova, people emigration, shutting down companies due to corruption, exaggerated prices due to monopolies protected by bureaucrats and other costs borne by the society.
It is still not clear why Moldova would need a National Agency for the Regulation of Nuclear and Radiological Activities, given that there are no nuclear power plants on the territory of the country and given that there is already a National Agency for Energy Regulation. Also, there are 3 agencies in charge of land recording and cadastral maps creation in the Republic of Moldova. The economic expert believes that some control agencies could be merged in a single market regulation agency and that would be a way to optimize public expenditures.
Photo: unknown
Economy
Romania and Moldova signed a partnership memorandum pledging to cooperate in promoting their wines
The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania (CCIR) and the National Office for Vine and Wine (NOVW) of the Republic of Moldova signed, last week, a memorandum of cooperation on organizing joint promotional activities in the markets of common interest, as the CCIR announced.
China, Japan or the USA are just some of the markets targeted by the Romanian and Moldovan institutions. The memorandum also involves advertising activities for wines from common indigenous varieties, promoting the oeno-tourist region, developing a tourist route in the two states, exchange of experience, study visits, and mutual support in identifying new export opportunities. “We are very confident that this collaboration between our organizations will lead to sustainable economic growth and a higher degree of well-being among Moldovans and Romanians,” claimed Deputy Secretary-General of CCIR, Bogdan Visan.
On the other hand, Director of the NOVW, Cristina Frolov, declared that no open competition with Romania is aimed at the governmental level of the Republic of Moldova. “This request for collaboration is a consequence of the partnership principle. Romania imports 10-12% of the wine it consumes, and we want to take more from this import quota. Every year, the Romanian market grows by approximately 2.8%, as it happened in 2020, and we are interested in taking a maximum share of this percentage of imported wines without entering into direct competition with the Romanian producer,” the Moldovan official said. She also mentioned that Moldova aims at increasing the market share of wine production by at least 50% compared to 2020, and the number of producers present on the Romanian market – by at least 40%.
Source: ccir.ro
**
According to the data of the Romanian National Trade Register Office, the total value of Romania-Moldova trade was 1.7 billion euros at the end of last year and over 805 million euros at the end of May 2021. In July 2021, there were 6 522 companies from the Republic of Moldova in Romania, with a total capital value of 45.9 million euros.
The data of Moldova’s National Office of Vine and Wine showed that, in the first 7 months of 2021, the total quantity of bottled wine was about 27 million litres (registering an increase of 10% as compared to the same period last year), with a value of more than one billion lei, which is 32% more than the same period last year. Moldovan wines were awarded 956 medals at 32 international competitions in 2020.
Photo: ccir.ro
The number of attacks on Moldovan journalists suddenly increased in 2020. Mostly, legal and economic mechanisms were used by state officials, holding offices at central and local level, against media employees, in particular, filing accusations of defamation, slander and damage to reputation, a recent study conducted by the Foundation for International Investigation of Crime against Media “Justice for Journalists” stated.
The foundation monitors attacks on media employees on a daily basis, together with partners an experts from 12 countries, creating a Media Risk Map, which covers the period from 2017 onwards. Each incident is being verified in three independent sources, belonging to one of the categories: physical attacks and threats to life, liberty, and health; attacks via judicial or economic means; and non-physical and/or cyber attacks and threats.
68 attacks on journalists were committed last year in Moldova, most of them happening during protests and important political events. According to the report, collaborators or offices of 22 media institutions and media NGOs were subjects to attacks or threats.
In 2020, the most common forms of intimidation and persecution of media employees were non-physical attacks and/or cyber attacks (including DDoS and hacker attacks), but also discrediting, spreading slander in relation to media portals or media employees, illegal obstruction of journalistic activity, harassment, intimidation, pressure, threats of violence, attacks on social networks (49 out of 68 cases). In 38 out of 49 cases, the source of these attacks was mainly state officials, politicians and public figures.
3 out of 5 cases of physical attacks on media employees and institutions were accompanied by threats to life, liberty and health of journalists, being conducted by law enforcement representatives, including those from the Transnistrian region.
Additionally, several cases of suing journalists and media portals were recorded, as well as inviting to testify as witnesses after investigations were published.
The most important reasons for the journalists’ working conditions aggravation in Moldova, as well as in the whole region, were voting new laws and regulations that limit the access of media employees to information and restrict their freedom of movement under the pretext of COVID-19 restrictions; civil resistance actions with the participation of a large number of people organized in connection with the tension of the political, economic and social situation; tightening the penalties for media collaboration with colleagues abroad and non-profit organizations; or the adoption by state authorities of a clearly hostile position towards the media institutions which are not controlled by them.
Photo: Thomas William| Unsplash
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