Lilian Carabeț, the new interim head of the General Police Inspectorate, lives in a house worth millions, which is located in an elite area of Dumbrava, Chișinău suburb. The Carabeț family bought the real estate in 2014, and in his declarations of wealth, the police officer indicated that, according to the sale-purchase contract, the house cost 45,500 euros. He also stated that he received 45,000 euros, the money for the purchase of his house, from his father. However, the market price of such a house is at least twice as high as the price indicated in the wealth declaration.

According to the declarations of wealth submitted by Lilian Carabeț, he and his wife live in a house with a cadastral area of approximately 120 square meters, located in an elite area of Dumbrava, Chișinău. The Carabeț family purchased the two-level house during the period when Lilian Carabeț was the head of Directorate 3 within the National Investigation Inspectorate of the General Police Inspectorate, and his wife, Violeta, was employed at the Publishing House Statistica. In 2014, Carabeț also worked for several months in the Chișinău Police Department. Surveillance cameras monitor the house where the Carabeț family lives.

Donation from father to purchase the house

In the year in which they bought the house, the couple declared an official income of about 10,000 euros from their salaries. In addition to the donation of 45,000 euros received from his father, Lilian Carabeț stated that he obtained another 2,500 euros from the sale of a Citroen C5 car, manufactured in 2000. In 2013, the Carabeț family bought a 96 square-meter apartment in the Buiucani sector of Chișinău and a parking space. The same year, in 2013, the Carabeț couple sold a smaller apartment, which they owned in the same Buiucani sector. In 2014, the year in which they bought the house, the Carabeț family owned a Renault Megane car, manufactured in 2001 and purchased in 2009.

The difference in wealth at a distance of nine years

Lilian Carabeț’s declaration of wealth for 2012, the first available on the portal of the National Integrity Authority, the current interim head of the General Police Inspectorate stated that he owned only a 53 square-meter apartment and a garage, as well as two cars: Citroen C5, manufactured in 2000, and Renault Megane, manufactured in 2001.

In the most recent declaration of wealth which Lilian Carabeț submitted in February 2021, the interim head of the General Police Inspectorate stated that he owns the house, the apartment and a garage, as well as three cars: a Hyundai, manufactured and purchased in 2016 at the cost of 20,000 euros, a Suzuki, manufactured in 2011 and bought in 2020 for 3,000 euros, and a Vaz 21213, manufactured in 1996 and bought in 2019 for 1,000 euros. In 2020, the Carabeț family stated that they borrowed 3,000 euros from an individual, a debt that is to be repaid in 2021. Last year, the Carabeț family sold a Volvo car, manufactured in 2014 and purchased in 2018 for 19,000 euros. In his last declarations of wealth, the head of the General Police Inspectorate did not indicate the models of the cars he owns, but only their brand.

In the wealth declaration for 2020, Lilian Carabeț indicated that he inherited 9,000 euros from his father, Ion Carabeț, who, according to people from Dondușeni, would have had several entrepreneurial activities over the years. The father of the new interim head of the General Police Inspectorate passed away in 2019.

He quitted his job, but soon returned to Directorate 5 within the National Investigation Inspectorate

Lilian Carabeț has been working in the police since 1995, and since 2012 he has held several management positions. He was head of the Economic Fraud Investigation Section within Chișinău Police Department, then head of the section within the Police Directorate, and in 2014 he was, for several months, head of Directorate 3 within the National Investigation Inspectorate of the General Police Inspectorate.

In March 2015, Carabeț resigned from the police and joined the company Esculap-Farm, where his wife was also employed. The company described itself as “one of the important wholesale suppliers of pharmaceutical, para pharmaceutical, and cosmetic products on the territory of Moldova.” Esculap-Farm owns the Apoteka pharmacy chain and was founded by Oleg Sîli. The company has obtained dozens of contracts with the state over the recent years. In 2019, Esculap-Farm came to the attention of prosecutors, after it signed with the state a contract worth 1.35 million euros for the delivery of insulin analogs within the National Program for the prevention and control of diabetes and diabetes insipidus for that year.

The new interim head of the General Police Inspectorate did not work in the private sector for long. Thus, in September 2016, he becomes a senior investigation officer in Section 10 of Directorate 5 within the National Investigation Inspectorate of the General Police Inspectorate, a directorate that came to public attention after it was accused of intercepting opponents of the Democratic Party’s government, journalists and civil society representatives and which was abolished two years ago.

On August 30, 2017, Alexandru Pânzari, then head of the General Police Inspectorate, appointed Lilian Carabeț deputy head of the Center for Combating Cybercrime within the National Investigation Inspectorate. Subsequently, he was appointed deputy head of the Economic Fraud Investigation Directorate, led by Nicolae Gavriliţa, the brother-in-law of Prime Minister Natalia Gavriliţa.

Lilian Carabeț: “If you have any suspicions, contact the relevant authorities.”

ZdG contacted Lilian Carabeț to ask how he justifies his wealth, given the fact that he was a public sector employee for over 20 years. He told us that he never hid anything, that he worked in the private sector for a while and that his parents helped him to purchase the house.

“I declared everything and I tried to be an honest citizen. I also worked in the private sector. If I had not declared, it would have looked as in that advertisement about corruption, when you declare goods in the name of the mother, the niece, or someone else. I have declared everything, I have the appropriate documents. If you have any suspicions, contact the relevant authorities. In my declarations of wealth you will find answers to all your questions,” the interim head of police told us.

Lilian Carabeț didn’t tell us why he resigned from the General Police Inspectorate in 2015, stating that “there were certain decisions”. As for the activity within the former Directorate 5 of the National Investigation Inspectorate, he claims to have worked there for “a very short period of time”. “I was reinstated in Ungheni District, after which I was offered to be transferred to Chișinău. Here I was employed in the department where there were vacancies, after which I advanced in other positions,” the new interim head of the General Police Inspectorate told us.

On August 16, Ana Revenco, the new Minister of Internal Affairs, announced that Lilian Carabeț takes over the duties of the head of the National Police until the Government appoints an interim or a new head of the General Police Inspectorate. Revenco assured that “Mr. Carabeț was appointed due to his professionalism and experience, and the priority of the National Police must remain the citizen’s safety and ensuring a high level of security in the country.”