In its undercover investigation “Protesters in rent”, Ziarul de Gardă demonstrated how the so-called protesters of the Shor Party are mobilized, transported and paid to demonstrate their “civic attitude”. In addition to the fact that people are paid for participating in the protests, every Sunday hundreds of minibuses and buses transport people to Chisinau, a process that requires spending hundreds of thousands of lei.

In this context, ZdG asked the law enforcement bodies in Moldova, empowered to investigate possible corruption, about the actions they are taking to verify information appearing in ZdG, but also in the public space, about the corruption behind the protests organized by the Shor Party.

Prosecutor General’s Office: “Prosecutors investigate all actions”
“Prosecutors are investigating all allegedly illegal actions and will inform the public at the appropriate time,” Mariana Cherpec, spokeswoman for the Prosecutor General’s Office (PG), told ZdG, without mentioning other details.

IGP: “We have documented a number of violations”
Contacted by ZdG, the head of the General Inspectorate of Police (IGP), Viorel Cernăuțeanu, said that related to certain payments, finances, acquittals, this competence was withdrawn from the Police in 2019-2020 and was fully transferred to the State Tax Service (FISC).

“We, as of today, we no longer have such a competence, neither in the Contravention Code nor in the Criminal Code (…) Even if the police does not have a number of competences, we have assumed under the terms of Article 399 a number of findings – very, very many, in the order of hundreds, which have already been handed over according to the competence of the competent institutions, we are talking about FISC, ANTA (National Transport Agency) or other law institutions.

We have documented a number of violations, including being only as a support to other institutions entitled to document such cases (…) Everything related to the process of police activity, apart from the basic tasks that the Police has, of maintaining, ensuring and maintaining public order has contributed very much and very actively to other areas of competence of other law institutions as a support in the process of documentation…”, said Viorel Chernăuțeanu.

CNA: “It is not our competence”
“It is not our competence,” said Angela Starinschi, spokeswoman for the National Anti-Corruption Centre (CNA), an institution with exclusive powers to prevent and counteract acts of corruption.

SIS: “These are the questions we have to ask the prosecution bodies”
Reached by ZdG, Daniela Mânzat, spokeswoman for the Intelligence and Security Service (SIS), said that “we have to address these questions to the prosecutor’s office”, the institution refusing to comment on whether it is conducting investigations on the matter.

Since 18 September, thousands of people have been brought to the centre of the capital to take part in the so-called protest organised by the Shor party.

On the fourth Sunday of the demonstrations, the law enforcement agencies reported that more than 5 thousand people participated, while the organizers – PP “Shor”, claimed that there were more than 60 thousand people.

Protesters to rent
ZdG wrote how four reporters infiltrated the ranks of the Șor Party protesters on the eve of the 18 September rally in Chisinau. They set off with the protesters from several locations in Orhei, which they found in advance, and then for several days we documented, from the inside, how they were mobilised, transported organised and paid to demonstrate their “civic attitude”.

Three of the reporters, a few days after taking part in the protest, were paid 400 lei each by the people responsible for recruiting the protesters, the so-called “patratiste”. The money was received in various locations in Orhei, and the whole process was filmed and documented by ZdG.

ZdG also identified some of the people in charge of recruiting and rewarding the people brought in, the so-called “patratiste” from Orhei. They include party activists, municipal councillors of the Shor Party, as well as employees of Orhei City Hall.