Moldova is one of the poorest countries in the world, but it can afford to pay luxurious salaries to state dignitaries. Ziarul de Garda analyzed the declarations of wealth and interests of civil servants for 2019 and found that the highest-paid employee in Moldova is the governor of the National Bank.

The Governor of the National Bank of Moldova, Octavian Armașu, received an annual salary of over 95,000 euros (1,914,195 lei) or about over 8,000 euros (159,000 lei) per month.

In his declaration of assets for 2019, Armașu also indicates an outstanding salary from the position of Minister of Finance of over 1,000 euros (23,000 lei).

At the same time, Octavian Armașu also obtained from the didactic, scientific, and creative activity income amounting to over 800 euros (15,830 lei) SBC-projet company.

Following a contest organized away from the press, on December 2019, Igor Cujbă became the general administrator of Metalferos, a state-owned company and the main collector and exporter of ferrous and non-ferrous metals in Moldova. Igor Cujbă wrote in his declaration of assets for 2019 that he earned a salary of almost 300 euros (6,000 lei) from Metalferos, where he worked for nine days. 

Between 2012 and 2015, Igor Cujbă worked in two companies in Romania and Poland, which are part of the Russian metallurgical giant Mechel controlled by the Russian billionaire Igor Zyuzin. 

During the same period, the current Minister of Internal Affairs, Pavel Voicu, a former adviser to President Igor Dodon, also worked for the Mechel group.

Before Igor Cujbă took the office, Alexei Ţîmbrovski has run Metalferos for five years. Alexei Ţîmbrovski had a salary of about 4,000 euros (80,000 lei) per month. He was the highest-paid manager of a company with a majority share held by the state. 

In August 2019, Alexei Ţimbrovski resigned from the management of Metalferos. In his declaration of assets for 2019, the Ţimbrovski family claimed that it earned over 50,000 euros (1 million lei) from land leasing

At the same time, Alexei Ţimbrovski owns almost 900 agricultural lands, three apartments, and two cars.

At the end of 2019, the State Agency for Intellectual Property had a new head, Viorel Iustin. 

In 2019, Viorel Iustin mentioned a yearly salary from the State Agency for Intellectual Property amounting to almost 20,000 euros (381,866 lei). 

During the same year, he received incomes amounting to over 1,000 euros (30,918 lei) from Trans Solution and TaxiMagistru companies. He earned almost 2,000 euros (35,000 lei) from teaching and science activities.

Before Viorel Iustin, the State Agency for Intellectual Property had an interim director, Andrei Popa who now is the deputy general manager, after Lilia Bolocan was released from this position in the midst of a scandal. 

Thus, Lilia Bolocan former deputy general manager had a salary of over 4,000 euros (78,823  lei) per month.

In 2019, the director of the National Agency for Regulation in Electronic Communications and Information Technology, Octavian Rău, had an annual salary of over 44,000 euros (870,765 lei). His family obtained an allowance of about 3,000 euros (63,000 lei) two state institutions.

The General Director of the National Agency for Energy Regulations, Veceslav Untilă, also earns a monthly salary of thousands of euros. He had an annual salary of over 42,000 euros (829,287 lei). Also in 2019, Untilă earned over 3,500 euros (68,326 lei) from the position of president of the Court of Accounts. Another source of income was the pension amounting to over 6,000 euros (122,538 lei).

The director of the Public Services Agency, Tatiana Cunețchi, had three sources of income in 2019. She received a salary from being a member of the Court of Accounts amounting to over 6,000 euros (123,000 lei). She also received a salary from being a deputy worth over 6,000 euros (119,000 lei), and an income of over 100 euros (2,700 lei) as head of the Public Service Agency. She received over 5,000 euros (102,000 lei) from allowances and compensations, and another 400 euros (9,403 lei) from the pension.

The director of Termoelectrica company, Veaceslav Eni, received a salary of over 32,000 euros (634,095 lei). In 2019, he received a donation of over 15,000 euros (300,000 lei) from Victoria Rotaru and became the owner of four real estate assets. However, he did not mention the value of the assets. He received another donation, an apartment with an area of ​​62.1 square meters, and the value of the property is indicated zero lei. From 2019, the director of Termoelectrica drives a Mercedes car worth over 5,000 euros (100,000 lei).

On December 5, 2019, Viorel Postolachi became Interim General Manager of Moldtelecom. Before that, he was Sales Director within the institution. Thus, he had a salary of around 38,000 euros (743,505 lei) annually, which represents approximately.

In the declaration of assets and interests for 2019, Postolachi received two allowances for minor children, from the Romanian authorities – 4,725 RON and over 4,900 euros (97,000 lei).

Vitalie Zaharia is the head of Moldova’s Post Service since December 2019. And he received from Moldova’s Post Service for 2019 around 560 euros (11,000 lei).

In his declaration of assets and personal interests for 2019, Zaharia did not mention another source of income. In the same statement, he only mentions that he is the owner of a plot of land, acquired in 2002, worth over 500 euros (11,320 lei).

Previously, Journalistic Investigation Center wrote that from 2012 to 2018 the Toplider company, controlled by Vitalie Zaharia, won 90 contracts with the state, amounting to about €2.2 million (42.5 million lei).

In his declarations of assets and personal interests for 2016–2017. He wrote only about the salary from MIEPO amounting to about 10,000 euros (200,000 lei). He declared neither a car nor a house, but only a lot of 12 acres. The former state official didn’t mention in his declaration of assets the company’s income registered in the name of his wife, Iuliania Zaharia.

Last year, the administrator of MoldData, Ana Bradu, had a salary of around 41,000 euros (801,769 lei).

In 2019, the official did not register any acquisition, and other sources of income are not mentioned. According to a report by the Public Property Agency, the company is at the top of state institutions where the officials cash in the highest salaries. In 2018, the average salary at MolData was around 700 euros (14,000 lei).

The head of the State Enterprise for Airspace Use and Traffic Services MOLDATSA, Veceslav Frunze, received an annual salary of over 59,000 euros (1,167,334 lei).