Weekly Roundup: The Cabinet Reshuffle is Announced
November 18, 2024
Prime Minister Recean Announces Cabinet Reshuffles
After much signaling Prime Minister Recean announced changes to his cabinet at a press conference this afternoon. Around 10 minutes before the press conference began Minister of Internal Affairs Adrian Efros announced on his facebook page that he was resigning. He did not give a reason but thanked his colleagues for their work.
Here’s what the Prime Minister announced:
Minister of Internal Affairs: Daniela Misail-Nikitin was named as the new Minister of Internal Affairs. Previously she was one of the founders of the women’s rights NGO La Strada and since 2022 she has been a State Secretary in the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Ministry of Infrastructure and Regional Development: Minister of Agriculture Vladimir Bolea will resign that post and move to become Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Development. Prime Minister Recean stated that Deputy Prime Minister Bolea is well positioned to continue building on existing initiatives and projects in that ministry. He also tasked the Minister with spurring activity and investment in the construction sector and conducting a financial restructuring of the national railroad. Recall, Minister Andrei Spinu resigned his post in the ministry last week.
Ministry of Agriculture: Replacing Minister Bolea the Prime Minister named Ludmila Catlabuga as the new Minister of Agriculture. Catlabuga is the owner of a purebred dairy farm in the Soroca region and the founder of the Association of Dairy Farmers.
Prime Minister Recean commented on rumors that Minister of Justice Veronica Mihailov-Moraru would be replace stating:
"We have seen that the system has mobilized in recent weeks. I want to thank the prosecutors and judges who, together with the police, the National Anti-Corruption Center and other structures, mobilized, and we were able to cope with attempts to undermine the democratic vote. However, we still lack sufficiently courageous and dedicated people. They exist, but they need support,"
He went on to express confidence in the current minister and stress the need to continue the reform process.
Other Politics and International Affairs News
Here’s a roundup of the other big political and International affairs stories of the week:
President Sandu held consultations on fighting political corruption. 21 parties were invited to the Presidency for talks originally scheduled for last Thursday. They were delayed at the request of some participants and were held on Monday November 18th. In total 18 parties attended the talks which were focused on voter bribery and electoral corruption. The substance of the meeting1 was largely overshadowed by outrage by some attendees (and the press) that Eugeniu Nichiforciuc of the “Respect Moldova” party was invited. Mr. Nichiforciuc is a close relation of Vladimir Plahotniuc and has previously been accused of bribing a Communist Party MP 350,000 euros to change parties. Answering questions about the invite list Presidential Spokesman Adrian Bălutel stated:
"We did not invite parties we like, we invited all the parties that did not participate in the political corruption in this election and were not the beneficiaries of this political corruption,"
The Socialist Party was not invited.
The National Alternative Movement (MAN) Party begins expanding outside of Chisinau. Mayor Ion Ceban announced the opening of party offices in Soldanesti and Drochia this week saying that “It is time to build and develop projects not only in Chisinau, but throughout the country.”
President Sandu and Minister of Energy Parlikov attended the COP 29 conference in Baku. At the conference President Sandu met with multiple leaders on the sidelines including Turkish President Erdogan. The two presidents discussed regional security and Gagauzia which Sandu called “a bridge between our countries.” Speaking to the conference President Sandu called for a “fair financing system” to assist vulnerable nations in dealing with climate threats. She stated:
"Although our country contributes only 0.03% to global emissions, it is the most vulnerable in Europe to the effects of climate change. For Moldova, climate change is not a distant threat, but a reality that already affects our daily lives. Rising temperatures, long droughts and unpredictable rainfall reduce crop yields. (…) Access to water is becoming increasingly limited, which makes both agriculture and everyday life difficult,"
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the Georgian Embassy’s Chargé d'Affaires to lodge a protest over comments by the Georgian Prime Minister. At the recent EPC Summit Georgian PM Irakli Kobakhidze deflected a question about the need to investigate Georgia’s recent election saying “If there is a need to investigate elections somewhere, for example, it is in Moldova.” The Moldovan Ministry expressed “deep dissatisfaction” with the comments in a formal protest.
Security & Shor News
Here’s a roundup of the top security stories of the week:
Unconfirmed reports indicate that Russian drones crossed over Moldovan territory. On November 17th Russia launched a massive bombardment of Ukraine with 120 missiles and 90 drones. Moldova’s Ministry of Defense was unable to confirm drones crossing into Moldova because “Such devices are launched at low altitudes so that the Defense Ministry's radars cannot detect them.” Border patrol units in multiple Northern regions report seeing missiles and drones flying over Ukraine and recorded explosions in areas just over the border. Minister of Foreign Affairs Mihai Popșoi posted a video on twitter taken from a home security camera in which you can hear low flying ordinance overhead. He strongly condemned the violations of Moldovan airspace. The Russian Foreign Ministry denied that these drones came from Russia calling the implication "anti-Russian attacks."
Another decoy drone was found crashed in the Criuleni district. This follows the finding of 2 such drones the week before.
The treason investigations against 2 individuals accused of spying for Russia have been completed and have been sent to trial. Former head of the Legal Department of the Parliament, Ion Creangă, and policemen Igor Ivanita are accused of passing state secrets to a Russian Military Attache. Creangă allegedly shared advance copies of the National Defense Strategy, information about military modernization plans, internal analysis about the situation in Transnistria and information about bilateral military cooperation agreements. Ironically, he also shared information about early drafts of the new treason law which he is now charged under. Ion Creangă was detained shortly after receiving $500 for passing information. Igor Ivanita is alleged to have also met with the same Russian official and received payments in return for information. Ivanita’s wife has also been charged for helping him establish secure communications with his Russian handler. Ion Creangă and Igor Ivanita each face 15-20 years in prison. Igor Ivanita’s wife (unnamed) faces 5-10 years.
Officials in Bosnia and Herzegovina arrested Russian citizen Aleksandr Bezrukovny trying to leave the country under an Interpol arrest warrant. He is alleged to have been an instructor at the training camp in Republika Srpska where Moldovans were taught riot instigation, use of small arms and hand to hand combat as part of the Shor network.
On November 11th the first person was convicted in an illicit financing case involving the Chance Party. Valeriu Racu pled guilty to acting as a courier for the Shor organization moving packages of money around the country to activists and local offices. At times he delivered the money directly, but sometimes he would change the foreign currency to Moldovan lei at an illicit exchange in the Central Market. The most he changed at one time was $40,000. Racu was fined 45,000 lei.
Fines levied against voters who took bribes have reached a total of 6 million lei. Police are not levying an average of 1 million lei per week in fines as they work through the backlog of cases. 6 million lei still only represents around 200 people who have been fined of the 130,000 police claim to have evidence on.
The court has acquitted a man charged with attempting to smuggle 550,000 euros across the border in October 2023. Prosecutors alleged that the man was involved in the illicit financing of the Shor Party in that year’s November local elections. According to prosecutors and border patrol agents, the man approached the border between Moldova and Romania in a luxury car. He claimed to be going to Moldova to visit his mother and said he had nothing to declare. Upon searching his suitcase they found the large quantity of money under a pile of clothing in side compartment. The man’s defense was that he tried to declare the money but spoke “in a low voice” because he didn’t want the people in the car behind him to hear. He says that he could not have been going to see his mother because she is dead.2 The man stated that he hoped to invest in Moldovan real estate and had withdrawn the money from his business in Romania and planned to put it in a bank as soon as he got to Chisinau. The judge ruled that prosecutors had not sufficiently proved that the man obtained the money illegally and cited his business interest in Romania as sufficiently profitably to be a plausible source of the funds. Prosecutors are appealing the ruling.3
Alexandru Postica, member of the Superior Council of Magistracy (SCM) filed a complaint against Judge Arina Ialanji in the above case of the 550,000 euros. Postica released few public details but stated that information from the court’s filing system as well as public information has led him to believe that there were complicating factors in the case and that Ialanji should have recused herself due to a conflict of interest. No more details are available at this time.
The court has again allowed Marina Tauber to leave the country. She will travel for around a week allegedly to receive medical care.
So far there has been little public reporting of much of substance from the meeting. Some parties made suggestions about increasing the fines and penalties for those who give or take bribes for votes. Other parties suggested a common declaration condemning vote buying. The purpose of this meeting seems to have been largely symbolic and an attempt to delineate between political parties (of all backgrounds) that oppose electoral corruption and those that benefit from it.
“I could never have said that [to a police officer] because it is so obviously a lie” is a pretty wild defense tactic. So credit where credit is due… it’s bold.
If you’re scratching your head at this one well… that’s the Moldovan justice system. Reading reporting on cases like this quickly becomes a Kafkaesque exercise in hyper-focusing on miscellaneous details in order to ignore the substance. Unfortunately, the substance of the case was that the man had 550,000 euros - more than enough wealth to assure that he cannot be held in Moldova for long.