HAPPENING THIS WEEK

Greetings from Chişinău! Here’s what’s happening this week: in top news, our editors discuss the possibility of snap elections this autumn, just as more information about Moldova’s billion dollar bank fraud comes to light as a result of the Kroll leaks and President Igor Dodon visits Moscow. Our feature story takes you on a trip across the Nistru River on the ferryboat that connects the village of Molovata on the right bank to the isolated village of Molovata Noua in the Transnistrian region on the left bank. To mark the one month anniversary of the Plahotniuc Government’s exit, ZdG’s Executive Director discusses how a government shouldn’t be. On the subject of impunity and selective justice, we ask the experts how businessman and politician Ilan Shor managed to leave the country despite facing charges in the case of Moldova’s stolen billion. Our investigations this week examine a case of impunity and illegal business that left two women deeply in debt after falling victim to a businessman’s real estate scam, as well as the rapid deterioration of a recently refurbished pedestrian street in Chişinău – an example of the inefficient use of public funds. And finally, our roundup of news and analysis about Moldova from around the world. All of that and more in this week’s newsletter. Happy reading!  

THIS WEEK’S FEATURE

BRIDGING TWO MOLDOVAS: The conflict between Moldova and the Transnistrian region has been frozen since 1992, leaving towns and villages on the left bank of the Nistru River under the legal jurisdiction of Chişinău, but beyond the government’s control in practice. Crossing the Nistru means having to pass through checkpoints controlled by Transnistrian military forces – unless you take the Molovata ferry. This boat acts as a floating bridge, offering free passage that connects the village of Molovata on the right bank of the Nistru to the village of Molovata Noua on the left bank. While the people from Molovata have access to free media, the residents of Molovata Noua remain isolated and are forced to rely on foreign or politically controlled TV programs, which broadcast content that has little to do with the reality of what is going on in the Republic of Moldova. ZdG rides the Molovata ferry and visits two villages that are not so far apart, yet exist in two different worlds. 

FROM THE EDITORS

SNAP ELECTIONS?: Last month Moldova’s pro-Russian and pro-E.U. political parties formed an unprecedented coalition to end oligarchic control over the country. The resulting alliance between the Socialist Party and the ACUM Bloc was always seen as an unlikely (and temporary) marriage. But according to ZdG’s Politics Editor, Petru Grozavu, the coalition could be headed for divorcesooner than we thought. ZdG’s Editor-in-Chief, Aneta Grosu, also thinks elections are in the air. And she has a few questions for President Dodon – who is also approaching the end of his term in office in 2020.

KROLL-2 LEAKS: Another 60 pages have been leaked from the Kroll–2 report, offering new details and disaggregated data from the audit. Although the authenticity of these pages has yet to be confirmed, the information they provide links bank transfers of funds stolen during Moldova’s multi-billion dollar bank fraud to people and companies at home and abroad. ZdG writer Daniela Bechet breaks down what the latest Kroll leaks reveal.

SETTING A BAD EXAMPLE: It’s been one month since Vlad Plahotniuc’s government left power. To mark the occasion, ZdG’s Executive Director, Alina Radu, examines the actions of Moldova’s outgoing politicians as examples of how a government shouldn’t be. 

THE FOREIGN BRIEF

DODON IN MOSCOW: Moldova’s President, Igor Dodon, flew to Moscow for an official visit on July 17, with the intention of discussing the development of trade and economic cooperation, social and humanitarian issues, and migration issues. But what did he really ask for? And why was he thanking the Kremlin? As it turns out, President Dodon’s main focus was convincing Russia to cut gas tariffs, and expressing a desire to overcome “stagnation in bilateral relations.” 

OH BROTHER: In related news, Balkan Insight reported that Dodon’s younger brother, Alexandru, has purchased a 15 percent stake in a Russian real estate company that’s closely tied to the Kremlin.

BACK TO BRUSSELS: Prime Minister Maia Sandu has already scheduled her next trip to Brussels and will be returning there on July 24. During this visit she plans to meet with members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs. 

HOW SHOR GOT AWAY: A criminal investigation has been launched into the escape of Moldovan businessman and politician Ilan Shor, who is now being charged with illegally crossing the state border. The Prosecutor General’s Office believes Shor left the country between 14 and 17 June, managing to avoid border controls and leave Moldova through Chişinău International Airport. Shor was forbidden from leaving the country after being implicated in the case of Moldova’s stolen billion – so we asked the experts, who helped him get away?

ZDG INVESTIGATES

REAL ESTATE SCAM: Two women have found themselves in significant debt after falling prey to a real estate scam. Now, they are accusing businessman Vladislav Musteaţă of buying and selling apartments in their names, pocketing the profits, and leaving them with criminal charges for tax evasion. Musteaţă is the former owner of Pro Imobil, a company that faced a criminal charge for tax evasion, which drove him out of the country. Both women insist Musteaţă should take responsibility for the money owed, while he continues to blame the Plahotniuc government for the criminal charges.

OLD TOWN ROAD: Local authorities in Chişinău spent two years developing a 300 meter-long pedestrian walkway on Eugen Doga street. When it was finally unveiled, Chişinău’s mayor claimed that the road was made to “last tens and hundreds of years.”  But now, less than five years after its grand opening, sections of the pedestrian street have become unusable due to missing cobblestones, deteriorating pavement, and drivers using the area as a parking lot. City Hall’s spokesperson is blaming heavy rains and ongoing construction. Here’s what ZdG found while walking Chişinău’s pedestrian street. 

MOLDOVA IN WORLD NEWS

E.U. FUNDING AND SUPPORT: The European Commission announced its plans to unblock financial aid to Moldova due to recent progress on reforms. On July 15, E.U. Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn said that “in the next couple days” €14.5 million will be transferred to Moldova. “We also are looking [at] how we can enable the disbursement of macro-financial assistance,” Hahn said. “The European Commission has made it clear that it would help Moldova on this path, and Germany will do the same thing wholeheartedly,” said German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a press conference in Berlin on July 16. Offering Chişinău Germany’s support, Merkel urged Moldova’s new government to step up the pace of reforms. 

QUIET REVOLUTION: Moldova’s Finance Minister Natalia Gavrilita discusses her first month in office in an interview with Bloomberg. Gavrilita is part of the Prime Minister’s cabinet, in which women hold six of the 11 portfolios. And she has major plans, including cracking down on endemic graft, ridding the country of inefficient state companies and jailing corrupt oligarchs, all while steering Moldova toward international markets and reducing the country’s dependence on the International Monetary Fund. Gavrilita’s statements echo what Prime Minister Sandu told Reuters during an interview in Berlin on 18 July: “The first issue on the agenda is the ‘de-oligarchization’ of the state.” 

FOREIGN POLICY: “Moldova would love to join the European Union. There is a high consensus behind that,” Moldova’s Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu told EURACTIV.com in an exclusive interview. “We want good relations with everyone. We’re a small state, so most voters, even if they prefer Europe, they don’t want bad relations with Russia and are not anti-Russian. Vice versa, most of the pro-European voters and most of the voters who would want closer relations with Russia are not anti-European. In this sense, it gives us a platform on which to build a functioning grand coalition.” Read the full interview here.

CRIME: The Moldovan village of Dobrusa was home to 200 people just thirty years ago. But nowThe New York Times reports that a single resident remains after his only two neighbors became the victims of a grisly murder. 

The day before Ukraine’s July 21 parliamentary elections, Kyiv Post reported that the Central Election Commission disqualified a candidate they identified as a wanted Moldovan criminal in possession of nine Ukrainian passports issued under different names. 

AND PUNISHMENT: In Turkey, a court sentenced one of seven Turkish professors deported from Moldova to seven-and-a-half years of jail time on terrorism-related charges. The professor and his colleagues had applied for asylum in Moldova but were controversially extradited after being kidnapped during a joint operation by Moldovan and Turkish security services in 2018, Balkan Insight explains.

A video report from RFE/RL remembers the life of Moldovan writer Aleksei Marinat, whose son is preserving the journals that led to his father serving eight years in a Soviet gulag in the 1940s and 1950s.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Last week’s feature about ZdG’s visit to the hometown of oligarch Vlad Plahotniuc is now available on Hromadske International as well! Courtesy of the Russian Language News Exchange. 

SPOTTED THIS WEEK

Happy Anniversary ZDG!: On July 19, ZdG hosted an event to celebrate the newspaper’s 15-year anniversary and discuss freedom of the press in Eastern Partnership countries. In addition to journalists from other regional publications, the E.U. ambassador to Moldova Peter Michalko, the U.K. ambassador Lucy Joyce and the charges d’affaires of the Netherlands embassy, Roy Hans, attended the event. Roy Hans mentioned this was one of his last public events before leaving Moldova for a new role. ZdG also celebrated the night before by screening a compilation of their best reports outside of the government’s headquarters in Chişinău. 

Thank you for your continued interest! To keep up with our Moldova coverage throughout the week, you can follow us on Twitter @ZiarulDe or at zdg.md/eng for our latest stories in English. More subscription options coming soon. Until next week!

– Daniela Bechet,  Cristina Carmanu, Maksym Eristavi, Eilish Hart and others from the ZdG Newsroom. Created with support from the Russian Language News Exchange.