HAPPENING THIS WEEK

Greetings from Chişinău! Here’s what’s happening this week: Our feature brings you the highlights of a new international report on the state of anti money laundering efforts in Moldova. This week’s editorials comment on President Dodon’s plans for local elections in Chişinău, the contest for Prosecutor General, and the press’ fight for access to information in Moldova. Our weekly investigations include complaints from some farmers on the U.S.-backed project that rehabilitated the irrigation systems back in 2015, and more reactions from the case of the illegal expulsion of seven Turkish citizens, accused of links to what Turkey considers a terrorist organization. All of that and more in this week’s newsletter. Happy reading!  

THIS WEEK’S FEATURE

MODERATE ANTI MONEY LAUNDERING: Moldova is a regional playground for money laundering, yet an international commission assesses its efforts of combating this practice as “moderately effective.” A Committee of experts from the Council of Europe published a report assessing how Moldova scored against the 40 recommendations of a key international body on money laundering — the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The experts offer recommendations on how to improve the recovery of criminal assets through confiscation, sanctions, freezing, extradition and to increase the transparency of the beneficial owners behind legal entities. ZdG gives you the highlights of the 256 page report.

• Between 2013 and 2018, Moldova achieved money laundering final convictions in 25 cases, involving a total of 28 persons and 12 legal legal entities. “The number of money laundering convictions seems to be modest, especially if compared to the overall number of convictions obtained for predicate offences,” the report says.
• According to the report, “rather modest figures indicate the issues with implementing the extended confiscation regime.” About 10,000 euros were confiscated in relation to two corruption cases in 2017 and no extended confiscation cases had been registered by the time of the on-site visits in October 2018. 
• Over 20 million euros have been legally frozen over a five-year period in relation to money laundering, corruption and tax offences, which constitute the greatest threats in the country. However, no confiscation data was offered, which raised concerns. 

FROM THE EDITORS

CHIȘINĂU IS NOT MOSCOW:  During the October 20 local elections, the Socialists will put up a fight for Chișinău, a city they have lost three times in the past. It will be even tougher this time around, ZdG Politics Editor Petru Grozavu explains, as President Dodon has long sought to reach Chișinău City Hall through Russia’s helping hand. Even though the governing coalition was thought to be an American, European and Russian project for Moldova’s deoligarchization, Dodon has effectively gained control of key power institutions in Moldova. And in the past three years, Dodon has made over 20 visits to Russia, only two to Brussels, and none to America. “It is quite obvious that during the three months since the new parliamentary majority came to power, the ‘wind of change’ has been blowing from Moscow rather than from Brussels and Washington,” Petru Grozavu says. 

COMPROMISED CONTEST: On September 11, the Prosecutor General’s Office released a list of seven candidates competing for the position of Prosecutor General of the Republic of Moldova. Although all the candidates might think they are perfectly fit for the job, ZdG’s Editor-in-Chief Aneta Grosu argues that they are compromised. Aneta Grosu urges the new government to continue to insist on the idea of hiring a prosecutor or several from abroad. This is the only option to dismantle corruption schemes, in Moldova – the poorest and the most corrupt state in Europe. “Let people come who do not have godparents or godchildren in Moldova, who do not have to protect illegal businesses here, who are not acquainted with our politicians, who have not imprisoned innocent people, who have not sold evidence and arguments from cases and who have a clean conscience,” she writes.

INFORMATION’S PRICE: ZdG examines the cost of access to information in terms of money and time during the time different governments were in power.  Investigative journalism is a public service and access to information is a constitutional right. ZdG demands that authorities provide easy access, with minor or no payments, and indestructible access mechanisms. We also demand punishment for those who violate access to information. “We want real penalties for violating a constitutional right. And we will fight for this right,” says ZdG’s Executive Director Alina Radu.

THE FOREIGN BRIEF

PROBLEMS IN THE SECURITY ZONE: On September 12, the Russian Delegation to the Joint Control Commission (a trilateral peacekeeping force of Moldova, Russian Federation and the Transnistrian unrecognized breakaway region) reiterated its compromise proposal to examine the situation created after new border guard posts were installed in the Transnistrian Security Zone. However, the Transnistrian delegation doesn’t accept the idea, which has been submitted for the fourth consecutive month and supported  by the representatives of Moldova, Ukraine and the OSCE Mission in Moldova.     

PLAHOTNIUC INVESTIGATION: On August 26, Switzerland’s Federal Office of Justice received a request from the Moldovan authorities to investigate the bank deposits of the former Democratic Party leader, oligarch Vlad Plahotniuc. In July 2019, Grigore Novac, a Socialist deputy informed authorities that he had received information that the Swiss Prosecutor’s Office had filed a criminal case against the deputy. However the Swiss Prosecutor’s Office replied that no criminal case was opened against Vlad Plahotniuc or against his alias Vlad Ulinici. 

E.U. ASSOCIATION: The European Commission published a new report on the implementation of the Association Agreement since May 2019. The report shows that while reforms in the economic and banking sector advanced during 2018, the fundamental structural reforms of the judicial system, the fight against corruption, the prosecution of the 2014 banking fraud and ensuring media plurality are lagging behind. The new government adopted a number of programs focused on the most urgent reforms and took significant steps in the electoral framework, the fight against corruption and the depoliticizing of state institutions. Read the full report here. 

ZDG INVESTIGATES

FAULTY IRRIGATIONS: Ten centralized irrigation systems from localities on the banks of the Nistru and Prut rivers have been renewed and put into operation with money donated by the U.S. Government from 2013 to 2015. In the Coșnița and Pârâta villages, almost 14 million dollars were spent on the rehabilitation of the 50-year-old systems. Some farmers confirmed that the equipment is of good quality but it is not what they actually need while the project implementers maintain that the accusations are unfounded. 

STATE SECRET: One year after the expulsion of seven Turkish citizens, no Moldovan authority can say who is guilty of violating the rights of Turkish citizens or who should take responsibility for the European Court for Human Rights verdicts condemning the state. While the authorities have just opened a criminal investigation involving two public officials, the families of Turkish teachers are increasingly losing hope that they will see their relatives again. ZdG brings you the latest reactions and commentary on the case.

MOLDOVA IN WORLD NEWS

FOOTBALL PROTEST: During a national football match between Moldova and Turkey in Chișinău on September 10, Moldovan human rights activists conducted a small protest in support of the seven Turkish teachers controversially deported from Moldova in 2018. During the match, they managed to briefly hang a banner with a critical message for the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. It read, “Erdogan, give us back our professors!”  

PROXY DIPLOMACY: While working visits to Moscow and Brussels have kept Moldova’s officials busy, a high-level visit to Washington has yet to take place. And with President Dodon making frequent trips to Russia, a pattern is beginning to emerge. “Russia and Moldova may be working toward some joint initiative, perhaps in coordination with the European Union, that will later be simply brought to the attention of the United States. But one way or another, this analytic exercise seems to highlight how diplomacy is currently being shaped in Europe’s East as the U.S. increasingly turns a blind eye to this part of the world,” writes Dumitru Minzarari for the Jamestown Foundation’s Eurasia Daily Monitor. 

“BALANCED” FOREIGN POLICY: As part of the new governing coalition that overthrew the Democratic Party Government, the Socialist Party (led by Moldova’s President Igor Dodon) has been able to reinvent itself through pro-reform rhetoric – appealing to both Russia and the European Union. And given the geopolitical situation in the region and the revival of dialogue between Kyiv and Moscow during the recent prisoner exchange, President Dodon is now in a position to combine this “balanced” foreign policy with the Transnistrian issue, warns Dionis Cenusa for IPN Press Agency.  

SPOTTED THIS WEEK

EUROPEAN COMMISSION: The European Commission’s Director-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations, Christian Danielsson, visits Chișinău from September 16 to 17. During his visit, he will meet with political leaders, civil society representatives and members of the business community. Danielsson will discuss reform progress in key areas of joint E.U.-Moldova endeavours, such as the Association Agreement, as well as the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement. 

MUSIC ON THE NISTRU: On September 13, the Music Connecting People project began with an open-air classical concert. The performance took place in the village of Ternovka on the left side of the Nistru River, close to Tiraspol. The Music Connecting People tour will consist of ten concerts within ten months. About 100 musicians from both sides of the Nistru River, the European Union, the United States, Ukraine, and Russia are involved. The project is financed by the European Union and implemented by UNDP Moldova aiming to bring the people from the two banks of the Nistru River closer.  

OSCE-MOLDOVA: The negotiations on Transnistrian Settlement were resumed on September 10. Later on September 12, the OSCE Mission in Moldova hosted a meeting in its Tiraspol office between the chief negotiators from Chișinău and Tiraspol, Vasilii Șova and Vitaly Ignatiev. The two officials discussed issues pertaining to banking, freedom of movement, telecommunications, and road and railroad transport. Following the meeting, on September 13, the OSCE Mission in Moldova announced the OSCE Secretary-General Thomas Greminger visit to Moldova, which will take place from 17 to 19 September. During the visit, Greminger will take part in talks with high-level officials in Chișinău and the self-proclaimed political leadership of the Transnistria breakaway region. 

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

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