Constantin Vulpe, emeritus man of Moldova, hoped for a peaceful old age and as many grandchildren possible. And all the hopes he had put on his son, Dan, a boy with overseas studies, in the U.S., and a promising future. Saturday, December 14th, at around 12 o’clock, the two talked on the phone about the intentions of purchasing a pair of shoes, then Dan making jokes that his father, budgetary, was at work that day, though it was Saturday.

As he used to do, Constantin Mosneag telephoned his son the next day, Sunday, December 15th, but Dan’s phone was disconnected. As the boy had a night spirit, he did not get worried. He returned with a call in the evening, thinking he will reach him, but – no sound. That’s when  came the first unrest. The wife was calming him, saying that, maybe, their son, who soon was turning 40, has finally found a girl, and maybe thinks about marriage. The father, however, was still anxious. On Monday, Dan ‘s phone still remained disconnected. Then he really thought something was wrong. He called EmergencyHospital, asking if any man of about 40 years had been hospitalized. The answer was affirmative, so he went there. He found, however, that at the ICU was not his son. In Dan’s apartment, everything was intact. He resumed the search at the police inspectorates, and when he was writing a request to a head of the inspectorate, he was called by someone who said bluntly: “Mr Costea, do you have a son Dan, born in 1974? He died …” The sky had fallen over Dan’s father.

Driver’s relationships

He went to the police, where he found out that his son, on the night of Friday to Saturday (December 14th to 15th) at 03.30, became the victim of a road accident on Dacia Boulevard, was struck and killed by a black Mercedes. After committing the crime, the once from the car left it in a nearby yard, removed the license plate and disappeared. Only on Monday, after Constantine Vulpe was called to the police office, he found out that the driver had been arrested. “He was arrested or surrendered, I do not know”, says Constantin Vulpe. Since then, Dan’s family and friends have tried to find out what happened that night. For more than two months after the accident, they still have not get answers to the questions that grinds them: Why were they announced barely 36 hours after the accident, although Dan had with him cards with his name printed on? Who are those who were in the car that hit Dan? In what state were they? What happens now with the investigation? What is the status of the driver? Why is the investigation dragged on? Are the driver’s relationships a consequence of procrastination?

Officially, behind the wheel was Sergiu Trofim, from Milestii Mici, Ialoveni, who was in custody for a few days. Who are the other passengers and if he really was the driver, is not known. The fact is that Sergiu Trofim is godfather wedding of a local businessman, Nicolae Andronachi, who owns a luxury home in Milestii Mici, but also the son of Valeriu Trofim, chairman of the primary Organization of Democratic Party in Milestii Mici, him also, a successful businessman. Trofim holds, through Sergiver Group Ltd, a refrigerator for storing fruits and vegetables, and aslo two stores. Veronica Trofim, Sergiu’s sister, is employed at District Council Ialoveni, and George Trofim, driver’s brother, now gone abroad, is wedding godson of the prosecutor Ruslan Popov, former interim head of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor, current member of the Superior Council of Prosecutors and, also, chief of the criminal control Department and methodological assistance from the Prosecutor General (PG), about whose house, in Milestii Mici, ZdG wrote in 2013.

“The Secret of the investigation”

Namely this relationships make the relatives of Dan Vulpe believe that they try to cover up the case, to remove the hook from the driver, who, they say, was coming that night from a club, with three friends, having about 150 km per hour. ZdG attempts to find out more on the subject deepened these suspicions. Although, officially, in the middle is a car accident, things should not cause so much secrecy, in reality, those responsible for the prosecution refuse to discuss. File management is in Chisinau Prosecutor at Attorney Dumitru Stoicev. He told us that he will answer the questions “just in written form”, though our questions were not related to topics that require some time to search for documentation or information. Iulian Chitan, the investigator of the case, who was at the accident claimed “the secret of the investigation” when I asked to speak about file Dan Vulpe.

“I ordered the deputy prosecutor to take control on the case. I know it’s not ready, I do not know why, forensic and it is also needed an self- technical expertise that, again I do not know why, they have put in dependence of a witness, who should show exactly how was the car. That witness, however, is out of the country. I told them? But if there was no witness, there would be no expertise, or what? I asked them to expedite expertise. I do not see from our side other problems. In the rest, we are working as everybody is”, says Ion Diacov, Prosecutor Chisinau. He told us he did not feel any pressure or involvement in the investigation of the prosecutor Ruslan Popov, about whom he states that, he did not know that he has any connection with the family of the person who committed that accident. Popov also denies that he has any involvement in the difficult development of the investigation. “I feel sorry about the grief of this parents, but they can not worry, there is no involvement from my site in the case, and will not be. It’s about a person’s life. I am not going to take sins on my soul. No matter who committed the accident. They should not try to find scapegoats in such situations. Sergiu’s father called me in the first days when this situation happened. I just recommended to get a lawyer. That’s it”, says the prosecutor.

“He was raising”

“One day, this guy called me (Sergiu , no). I feel sorry for him. But this stuff, with trying to cover up … if he would have recognized, if he stopped … We are people and we must forgive. I understand all these things … He told me he wants to talk. We tried to meet through the lawyer, but he could not come to the meeting” says Constantin Vulpe. “Then, his father called me (Valeriu , no), with whom I had a calm discussion. I knew he is a good man, kind. I spoke calmly. He escaped such an expression, “maybe any help”. I said that I have strength and I will take care of myself as long as I am healthy, but I am in a very serious situation. Aside from the fact that the old age is ruined, I have a sick child that I maintain, and there are Dan’s loans in America, of tens of thousands of dollars. After saying this, he did not say a word… Dan was not preparing to die. He was building his future. He was raising and was doing so well … He had a project of 700 thousand euros with the World Bank, another with small producers of wine. On 5^th of January, when he was already gone, he was accepted at a job that he was waiting for 1.8 years, in a Anglo- Swiss company in London”, says the father of Dan Vulpe.

We also tried to talk with Sergiu Trofim. On a social network, where he is very active, he has not replied to the post. On his cell phone answered a lady, who informed us that we were wrong. Subsequently, he did not answer. Valeriu Trofim, his father, says that his son is innocent. “We, as Christian people, wanted to get closer, to talk, but they did not want. The boy is not guilty. Just that he did not stop there. He was in shock and got scared. Now he is seeing a doctor. He was not intoxicated. Tests have been done. Popov and others have nothing to do with it. We still do not understand why this case is delayed. Our car stays outdoors. It is raining in it. We wanted to take it, to fix it, but we were not allowed. We ourselves do not understand why is it so”, he told us.

“The file is actually in the air. We were not even informed about the layout of the auto – technical expertise, a very important action. We submitted an application and sought expertise, and deciphering of the telephone conversations of those who were in the car then. We have been told that the application of expertise will be considered, but the once related to phone calls – not, due to lack of necessity, since it would not prove anything conclusive and relevant to the criminal case. But, we have information that, from those phones talked, including, with those from law enforcement”, said Ion Gavriliuc, lawyer of Vulpe family.

P.S. ZdG will monitor this case and will return to the topic in future editions.

Victor MOŞNEAG, victor.mosneag@zdg.md