The deputy chair of the Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova (PSRM) faction in the Chisinau Municipal Council (CMC) Svetlana Popa has been found guilty of excessive power in the case of zonal urban plans (PUZ). On 18 September, a final and irrevocable decision was rendered by the Chisinau Court of Appeal and the sanction was set in the form of a fine of 3 000 lei and the deprivation of the right to exercise the function of councillor in the Chisinau Municipal Council for a period of 8 months.

The National Anti-Corruption Centre (CNA) found that 33 municipal councillors of the Chisinau Municipal Council demonstrated excessive power when they voted on the six zonal urban plans at the end of 2022.

According to the decision of the first court, upheld by the Chisinau Court of Appeal, on 30 December 2022 the contravention proceedings for committing the contravention provided for in Article 313 of the Contravention Code were brought against the decision-makers of the local public administration of the municipality of Chisinau. Chisinau, when examining and adopting decisions on the approval of PUZs, in the absence of general opinions issued by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Regional Development (MIDR), as the central specialized body, according to Law No. 835/1996 “On the principles of urban and spatial planning”.

According to the list of CMC councillors present on 20 and 21 December 2022 at the continuation of the extraordinary meeting of the Council, councillor Popa Svetlana was present at the meeting and gave her vote for the adoption of the decisions.

ZdG reported at the end of 2022 that the faction of the Action and Solidarity Party (PAS) in the CMC filed a complaint with the National Anti-Corruption Centre (CNA) requesting an investigation into the legality of the 6 Zonal Urban Plans (PUZ) voted by the majority of municipal councillors at the CMC meeting of 20-21 December 2022.

According to a PAS press release, municipal councillors from the Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova (PSRM), the Dignity and Truth Platform (DA Platform), the Shor Party, the Party of National Unity (PUN), the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova (PCRM), the European Social Democratic Party (PSDE) and others voted on the 6 draft decisions on the approval of the PUZs, contrary to legal provisions and in the absence of favourable opinions from the Ministry of Infrastructure and Regional Development (MIDR).

“In the CMC, PUZs have been voted over several years with the involvement of municipal councillors through obscure schemes. So far no one has been held accountable for such illegalities, and this makes these municipal councillors consider themselves to be unaccountable for the illegalities arranged in the CMC,” the application to the CNA states.

In the petition, the PAS faction in the CMC asks the Prosecutor General’s Office (PG), the NAC and the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (PA) “to initiate criminal prosecution on the fact of illegal approval of six PUZs voted in the CMC on 20 and 21 December 2022, in the light of the commission of corruption and corruption-related offences (…) and to bring to account the municipal councillors in the CMC guilty of illegal approval of PUZs”.

“The development of the city must be carried out in harmony with the needs of all residents, the social and transport infrastructure must be ensured, and the schemes between the real estate mafia and some bad faith municipal councillors must be liquidated,” the press release notes.

In the context of the CMC’s vote on the six PUZs, the suspended deputy mayor, Victor Chironda, and the Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Development (MIDR), Andrei Spînu, had previously warned that they had been “drawn up with violations of urban planning rules and regulations”.