The National Anticorruption Center and the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office announced on November 20, 2017, that nine persons were detained, following some searches. The detainees were suspected of having acted according to a determined criminal plan, pursuing the purpose of obtaining financial assistance from the Ecological Fund for the implementation of local projects. 

Despite the fact that five of the nine persons pleaded guilty in public money embezzlement the court made them pay fines amounting to around 29,000 dollars, while the state lost more than half a million dollars. 

Moreover, while the people were sued for fraudulent bidding, one of the companies they managed was implementing a contract of almost $3 million, having gained the right to rebuild the Palanca State Border Crossing Point, a project realized, almost exclusively, from European funds. 

The U.N.D.P. Moldova which had contracted this company, says that, as a managing partner, it does not require criminal records of the founders and/or the proposed team to provide the requested service.

At the same time in less than a year since it was put into operation, one of the beneficiaries, the General Inspectorate of the Border Police, signals about the poor quality of the construction works. 

ZdG investigated the case which involves public money embezzlement in large proportions and mismanagement of the European funds, concluding compared with more than half a million dollars lost by the state the fines amounting to around 29,000 dollars that the ones found guilty paid or should pay is a rather light punishment.

The group of companies that plotted their actions

The National Anticorruption Center and the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office investigated a series of public tenders regarding the construction of sewage systems and treatment plants in several localities, won by the companies managed by a single shadow beneficiary, Alexei Voloșciuc. 

Voloșciuc is suspected to have managed the entire scheme which involved negotiating with decision makers from the National Ecological Fund of the Ministry of the Environment on approving the financing of the projects, which were to be assigned to Moldova’s town/village halls. 

The law enforcement authorities also stated that, having identified the localities, Voloșciuc went to the officials in the territory and offered them five percent of the value of the contract to be signed. Subsequently, the members of the working group from the town/village halls arranged the winning of the auction by the indicated economic agent, disqualifying the other participants.

According to the prosecutors, after signing the contracts, the same beneficiary presented to the National Ecologic Fund false accounting documents regarding the execution of the works included in the contracts, in order to obtain the indicated payments. 

De facto, the works were not completed, and the Ecologic Fund transferred money to the accounts of the companies managed by Voloșciuc on the basis of fictitious acts, which led to public money embezzlement in very large proportions, the sums amounting to more than half a million dollars (tens of millions of lei). 

There are several companies registered or affiliated with the Voloșciuc family in the criminal case: Barzine-Cons, Regal-Rent, Valenscor-Design, Santeh-Trans or Levprocons. The prosecutors established that, in order to create the appearance of competition and to confer a legal character to the bids, these companies participated in the same bids, offering different prices.

The defendants admitted their guilt, in court

Two years after the detentions, Alexei Voloșciuc and his affiliated companies, which defrauded bidding of millions, continued to benefit from public money. Moreover, while under trial, his company managed one of the most important projects implemented in Moldova on European money – the construction of Palanca State Border Crossing Point.

In May 2019, the Chișinău District Court finished the examination of the criminal case in which Alexei Voloșciuc was targeted, together with four other persons from his entourage: his wife, Galina Voloșciuc, Elena Ciornei-their goddaughter from marriage, and two others persons, Eduard Frățescu and Evghenii Casco, who participated in the tenders “at Alexei Voloșciuc’s request.” 

All five pleaded guilty to Judge Alexandru Negru. All sincerely repented and asked for gentle penalties, motivating that they have children and are positively characterized at the workplace and at home. All admitted that they participated in the auctioning of tenders, and in the court they provided details on how they participated in the fraud or attempted fraud of three public procurement contests, organized in Tătărești, Ghelăuza and Gălești villages, from Strășeni district, in central Moldova.

In the sentence Alexei Voloșciuc recorded three statements about the auctions in the three villages, mentioning what he spoke with each of the villages’ mayors.  

Alexei Voloșciuc’s statements about the auction in Ghelăuza village, Strășeni, recorded in the sentence:

He declared he had a prior agreement with Nicoleta Malai, the mayor of Ghelăuza, to win the tender in that locality. 

Three of his companies participated in the first auction and five companies participated in the second auction, only both tenders were canceled by the Public Procurement Agency, although his firms won both auctions. 

At the third auction, Voloșciuc’s companies did not participate anymore, so another contractor was adjudged to carry out the works. 

He stated that he met with the mayor of Ghelăuza at Chișinău City Hall and proposed to her five percent of the value of the contract that his companies were to win. 

He said that later, he went to the village hall of the locality where he discussed with the mayor about the companies that were going to participate in the auction.

Alexei Volosciuc’s statements about the auction from Tătărești village, Strășeni, recorded in the sentence:

He specified that he met the mayor of Tătărești village, Elena Platița, through the recommendation of Nicoleta Malai, the mayor of Ghelăuza village. 

He stated that “he did not exercise any influence at the village hall, because he was convinced that he would win the tender. He had this belief because the mayor of Ghelăuza discussed with Mrs. Platița, and proposed the five percent she would get in case they win the auction.” 

In addition, he said he met with the mayor who asked him several times if he would give her the promised five percent, the equivalent of about 63,000- 69,000 dollars (1.1-1.2 million lei).

Alexei Voloșciuc’s statements about the auction in Gălești village, Strășeni, recorded in the sentence:

He mentioned that he met the mayor Nicolae Budu through his cousin, Vasile Budu, district councilor in Strășeni, through whom he negotiated with the mayor to win the tender. 

He indicated that he had a prior agreement with the other participants in the auction, asking Eduard Frățescu, who represented the Aspir Construct company, to offer a higher price than that Barzine-Cons, his company. 

He also indicated that he promised to Frățescu, who increased the offer, that he would be subcontracting, and to the mayor and his cousin, he promised the five percent of the sum indicated in the minutes after the works were completed.

Despite admitting their guilt at the hearings Alexei Voloșciuc and his wife, along with Elena Ciornei, Eduard Frățescu and Evghenii Casco were all fined with sums amounting from 3,000 dollars to 17,000 dollars. 

The court’s sentences for the five persons incriminated in the case

 Galina Voloșciuc, Alexei Voloșciuc’s wife, admitted at the hearings that, at the request of the mayor of Tătărești, she contributed, inclusively, to the development of the tender specifications. 

At the same time, she admitted that a fake invoice was issued stating that 10 percent of the works were completed, when, in fact, the works had not even started. She stated that the mayor knew that the information in the invoice as well as the minutes, presented to the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Finance, were fabricated. 

At the hearings, Elena Ciornei, Eduard Frățescu and Evghenii Casco also spoke about their role in the auctioning of tenders.

Magistrate Alexandru Negru found the accused guilty, but in the end, applied non-custodial sentences. Alexei Voloșciuc was sentenced to four and a half years of imprisonment, with the suspension of the sentence for two and a half years. 

At the same time, Voloșciuc had to pay a fine of around 17,000 dollars (290,000 lei) and was deprived of the right to hold administrative functions both in public and private sectors for a term of three and a half years. 

His wife was fined with around 3,000 dollars (55,000 lei), and their goddaughter, Elena Ciornei, had to pay a fine of around 3,000 dollars (53,000 lei). 

The other two offenders in the case were also fined. Moreover, the court decided that since the fines were paid, the seizure of two Porsche Cayenne cars, owned by the Voloșciuc family, should be removed.

In another separate criminal case, Vasile Budu, the district councilor from Strășeni who contributed to the fraud of the auction in Gălești, was punished, as his colleagues in the case, with a fine of around 6,000 dollars (112,000 lei). The case is currently being examined at the Chișinău Court of Appeal. 

The cases of the other three mayors have not been sent to trial yet. All three mayors have run for local election on October 20, 2019, for a new term. Nicolae Budu represented the democratic party, and Nicoleta Malai and Elena Platița – the ACUM Bloc.  

The cases of the mayors involved in the scheme are not yet concluded and the same fate have the projects that were started in the three localities. 

Initiated projects did not have final results

The cases of the three mayors have not been finalized, nor have the works for water supply of the three localities that they managed. In Tătărești, the people from the village and the representatives of the village hall told us that the project, amounting to more than $1.2 million (21.5 million lei), was not finalized, the works only began, but stopped when the authorities initiated the criminal case.

The works were also stopped in Gălești, where the initial project amounted to investments of more than $3 million (53 million lei). 

According to the information provided by the accountant of the village hall in Gălești, after selecting the economic agent, the village hall allocated more than 57,000 dollars (1 million lei) for the construction of a portion of the sewerage sector, after which the works were stopped because no more money was allocated anymore.

ZdG went to all three villages to find out more about the projects from the villagers and from the mayors there. 

What do the mayors have to say 

In Ghelăuza village, Alexei Voloșciuc’s affiliated companies participated in two auctions, but subsequently, they were canceled by the Public Procurement Agency. 

Another economic agent won the third auction, but this time the works of supplying the locality with drinking water were not completed. A villager said that they also paid money for this project but the works stopped.

Nicoleta Malai, the mayor of Ghelăuza village, claims that the project has been extended and that it “will definitely continue”. 

She says that “the people who paid their contribution went to the bank and received confirmatory documents. Most of those who gave money were connected to water pipes to their yard. The pump remains to be connected to the pumping station.” 

As for her relationships with Alexei Voloșciuc, described in the conviction sentence of the businessman, Malai said, “there probably was some confusion.” “His companies did not win any bids in our area. The criminal file in which my name appears is still at the National Anticorruption Center, in the criminal prosecution phase,” Malai said.

Elena Platița, mayor of Tătărești village said that “All the data (about the case, ed. not) is taken from the National Anticorruption Center. They didn’t tell me any further details. The materials were also required by the Competition Council. So far, the case has not been filed, but it has not been sent to court either. 

I did not see the sentence (in the name of Voloșciuc, ed. note). I was busy with other things and kind of scared of this mix-up and that there were not any bigger expenses. 

Did he say he was to give me five percent? I didn’t see those materials. It is not true. I’m amazed. Where can I see these materials? Immediately after these issues (criminal case, ed. note), the project stopped. It must be resumed after the elections.”

Nicolae Budu, mayor of Gălești declared “My case was not sent to court. I think they didn’t file it either. I would have known if it were filed. I haven’t even talked to the lawyer lately. 

There was nothing of it (the agreement to receive five percent of the sum of the works, ed. note). 

The project was stopped because the funding from the Ecological Fund stopped everywhere, not just in Gălești.”

Despite being found guilty by the National Anticorruption Center and the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office Voloșciuc’s companies kept winning public contracts in many localities amounting to around $23 million (400 million lei). 

Shady companies winning public contracts  

In the years 2014-2017, the companies found by the National Anticorruption Center and the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office affiliated to Alexei Voloșciuc, Barzine-Cons, Levprocons, Regal-Rent, Valenscor-Design or Santeh-Trans, won public contracts, whose total value amounted to about $23 million (400 million lei). 

In many localities, for various reasons, including financial ones, the works were not completed. Thus, not all the money assigned in the contracts went to the accounts of the companies. 

According to a 2017 report of the Court of Accounts the level of achievement of the investment projects carried out by these operators ranged between two percent and 95 percent, most of the projects being realized in proportion of 20-25 percent.

Some companies acknowledged by the National Anticorruption Center as de facto managed by Alexei Voloșciuc while being targeted in the criminal case now pending in Chișinău Court of Appeals, continued to claim the state money. 

In June 2018, the company Santeh-Trans won the tender for the repair of the kindergarten in the Răzeni village, Ialoveni district, central Moldova. 

In December 2017, the company obtained more than 63,000 dollars (1.1 million lei) for the construction of the aqueduct in the village of Gangura, Ialoveni .

In November 2018, Valenscor-Design, another company targeted in the criminal case, won a tender organized by the Hârbovăț village hall, Anenii Noi district, east-central Moldova, for “works on the organization of road traffic on a local road.” 

The criminal history of the company Barzine-Cons 

Alexei Voloșciuc and Elena Ciornei, concurrently with the file of the arranged tenders were tried in another criminal case for false statements. According to the data from the indictment, Alexei Voloșciuc, as manager of Barzine-Cons, through Elena Ciornei, administrator of the company, in order to comply with the requirements of the auction organized in September 2014 by Tohatin district hall (Chișinău municipality), presented to the Tohatin district hall some documents regarding the employees and technical equipment of the company. 

The tender was about carrying out works against landslides, in the amount of more than 900,000 dollars (16.8 million lei), and in these documents, it was indicated that Barzine-Cons had 46 employees and 21 machinery and technical equipment necessary for the execution of the works. 

As a result of the verifications, it was found that the company did not own any transport unit and had only one employee. Also, Ciornei and Voloșciuc presented a fictitious contract of association with another firm and indicated the lack of subcontractors when executing the works.

On September 9, 2014, Barzine-Cons was declared winner of the tender. However, as it lacked the technical equipment, as well as the qualified personnel, required to perform the works, it subcontracted another company that was to execute the works. 

On March 29, 2019, the Ciocana district Court, Chișinău, found Elena Ciornei guilty of false statements, but she was exempted from criminal liability for the expiry of the limitation period. 

By the same decision, Alexei Voloșciuc was acquitted on the grounds that “the offense has not been established”, as he declared in court that he did not sign any document in the tender package and that he gave no order to the lawyer (ed. note, Elena Ciornei) to sign any act. 

According to Chișinău Court of Appeal, the case targeting the two offenders reached judges of the Supreme Court of Justice, the first sitting being set for November 27, 2019.

Under criminal investigation while earning a $2.77 million contract

Three weeks before Barzini-Cons and its representatives, Alexei Voloşciuc and Elena Ciornei, were to be prosecuted for false statements, the company succeeded in hitting a record in tendering by signing a contract to build the State Border Crossing Point in Palanca, a project with a total value of $7.1 million, funded, mainly, by the European Union and implemented by the United Nations Development Program (U.N.D.P. Moldova).

Barzine-Cons SRL got $2.77 million, the total value of the project. The company was designated to carry out the construction of the State Border Crossing Point Palanca, operated jointly by the Moldovan and Ukrainian authorities on Moldova’s territory.

According to the final report on the State Border Crossing Point in Palanca construction, prepared by U.N.D.P., the procurement procedures for the actual construction of the State Border Crossing Point in Palanca (lot 3) started on May 17, 2017, with the extension of the deadline until July 10, 2017, “to ensure wider competition.” 

Finally, three companies submitted their participation offers. U.N.D.P., with the support of the international consultant on the project, evaluated the offers, while the beneficiary (Moldova) and the donor (E.U.) supervised the process, says the U.N.D.P. report. 

The Barzine Cons, which “corresponded both from the technical point of view and the costs” won the tender. The contract with Barzine Cons was signed on September 11, 2017, and the works started on October 23, 2017, a month before the manager of the company, Alexei Voloșciuc, was to be detained in the defrauded tenders case.

As U.N.D.P. Moldova does not make public the names of the other two companies participating in the tender, ZdG couldn’t determine if they were part of the group of companies controlled by Voloșciuc and if the same scenario was applied for U.N.D.P. as in the case of arranged village halls auctions, later investigated in a criminal case.

“According to the corporate rules and procedures, valid for all its offices, U.N.D.P. is not authorized to make public the names of the other bidders, this being confidential information. 

According to the U.N.D.P. access to information policy, only the tender documents and the list of the winning companies are public,” U.N.D.P. responded to ZdG’s request for information.

Not all the $2.77 million requested at the auction remained with Barzine-Cons. On October 15, 2017, one month after signing the contract with U.N.D.P., the company signed a sub-enterprise contract worth $985,000 with Solcoci Prim, a company based in Micăuți, the native village of Alexei Voloșciuc. 

Grigore Solcoci, founder and manager of Solcoci Prim, states that his company was selected as a subcontractor in the State Border Crossing Point in Palanca repair project because it already had on site technique.

“I even gave him a little support (to Alexei Volosciuc, ed. note). I am an engineer in constructions and I have tried to help him. As such, SA Drumuri-Strășeni won the contract for the road, but, because we were already on the site, SA Drumuri-Strășeni decided to give it to us,” said Solcoci, who admitted that he knew Voloșciuc. “He was a good friend of my father, this is the only connection between us.”

The final report prepared by U.N.D.P. also states that, although there were some delays, caused by certain design mistakes and weather conditions, the contractor mobilized additional staff (100-110 workers on site). 

Meanwhile, due to the need to perform additional works, the contract was modified, both in terms of increasing costs and extending the execution time. The works were completed on the day indicated after the modification of the contract, December 22, 2018, and on December 28, 2018, State Border Crossing Point in Palanca was officially inaugurated.

Asked how a company investigated for defrauding public tenders got to win a European funded tender, organized by U.N.D.P., the representatives of the institution informed us that the name of Alexei Voloșciuc was not included in the tender documentation and that U.N.D.P. does not request the criminal records of the founders of the companies with which they conclude contracts.

“Three companies submitted their offers for the competition, including Barzine-Cons SRL. According to the U.N.D.P. procurement procedures, the first stage involves the administrative evaluation, that is, it analyzes whether all the requested information / documentation was submitted, whether the offer is complete or not, if there are certain signs of conflict of interest or other irregularities that would jeopardize transparency and accuracy of the process. 

Thus, it is excluded to accept companies that have the same founders, this being verified in open data banks. In the case if the same person is identified as founder of several companies, the targeted offers are disqualified,” is stated in a response offered by U.N.D.P.

“UNDP does not require criminal records of the founders and / or the proposed team to provide the requested service and is not able to access information about ongoing or completed cases. The bidder (the company or the consortium) declares on its own responsibility the history of current and solved disputes. Alexei Voloșciuc is not included in the tender documentation in any quality,” is said in the same response that adds that “this is the only contract that U.N.D.P. Moldova has signed with the respective company.”

              General Inspectorate of Border Police regarding the quality of construction works
 

Although State Border Crossing Point in Palanca was put into operation in December 2018, the General Inspectorate of Border Police, one of the beneficiaries of the project, claimed the dubious quality of the construction works. 

In an official response, the Border Police, which benefited from offices and control equipment necessary for the service activity within the project, stated that “problems were detected as a result of the poor quality of the construction works.” 

“In the administrative block, when it rains, water leaks from the roof of the building into the offices. The control booths at the entrance to the country (the truck line) are not functional as there is no connection between the databases due to the faulty drainage system, therefore, water accumulates in the underground channels through which the wiring is drawn.” the General Inspectorate of Border Police announces that it has notified the Customs Service about the detected problems.

Another company, more European money

Levprocons is another company established by CNA as part of the group managed by Alexei Voloșciuc, which benefited from European money through a project implemented by U.N.D.P. 

Specifically, between October 2016 – August 2017, Levprocons received around 200,000 dollars (180,000 euros) for the reconstruction of the sewerage pipe in Speia, Anenii Noi district, and for delivery of equipment for the treatment plant in the same village. The mayor of the village, Vitalie Coteț, says that the works were carried out and that the sewerage system is currently functional.

In contrast, in Cioburciu, Ștefan-Voda district, another locality where Levprocons won a tender, this time financed by the National Ecologic Fund, the works have not been completed. 

The mayor of the village, Dumitru Wissotsky, affirms that Levprocons has not fulfilled its contractual obligations. For this reason, the Public Procurement Agency requested the company to be included in the banned list of economic operators. Thus, Levprocons is prohibited to participate in the tenders organized by the state for three years, from May 11, 2018 till May 11, 2021.

“They did not respect the conditions and we acted according to the regulation. They had to build the treatment plant, procure it, install and equip it. They proposed certain conditions, but I did not accept them and that’s how it ended. 

The term of the contract validity expired. After that, we submitted the documents to the Public Procurement Agency to put them in the list of banned companies. We went according to the procedure further, we organized another tender, an economic agent was found who won it and now the works go on,” the mayor informed us, specifying that due to the problems with Levprocons, the construction of the station and the treatment plant was delayed by a few years, and has not been put into operation to this day.

ZdG tried for several days to get in touch with Alexei Voloșciuc and Elena Ciornei, his goddaughter and owner on paper of the company Barzine-Cons, through a telephone number of the company. 

The interlocutor, who turned out to be the secretary of the company, initially told us that neither Elena Ciornei nor Alexei Voloșciuc were at the company’s headquarters, but that she would leave a message to Voloșciuc to contact us. 

We were not contacted the following days and the company phone was not answered either. 

On October 14, the secretary answered our call, but when she learned that it’s ZdG, she said: “Sorry, we don’t give any interviews” and closed. 

Later we texted a message on the company’s mobile phone, communicating that we are writing an article in which Alexei Voloșciuc is targeted and that we want to get his point of view. 

In about an hour, we received an SMS from another phone number with the following content: 

“I cannot respond to your requests because I do not have the drafted article. We have notified the lawyer’s office and in case the article contains erroneous data about me or my company, we will sue you for this article and for the previous article that contains data that denigrates my image.” 

Subsequently, both our messages and phone calls to both phone numbers remained unanswered.

Alexei Voloșciuc, the beneficiary of Barzine-Cons company, was a member of the Liberal Democratic Party and president of the Ciocana Territorial Organization of the party. In 2017, his name appears as a Democratic Party donor. Voloșciuc was formerly mayor of Ratuș, Telenești district, north of Chișinău.

Victor MOȘNEAG

Anatolie EȘANU