- No matter who wins mayoralty, City Hall’s work will be hindered by battles between parties, Antoniţa Fonari pentru Info-Prim Neo, 17 June 2011, 11:42
- Protection of Personal Data within the Dialogue on Visa Liberalization and the Negotiation of the Association Agreement between the R. of Moldova and the EU, Bogdan Manolea, Centrul Român de Politici Europene/Fundaţia Soros-Moldova, 10 June 2011, 16:01
- EU-Moldova Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area: a springboard to modernization or a road to ruin?, Alex OPRUNENCO, Centrul Analitic Independent "EXPERT-GRUP", 10 May 2011, 12:30
- The Council of Europe, the Communists and a New Referendum, Denis CENUSA, 4 March 2011, 11:06
- Coalition 2010, Irina Severin, 26 January 2011, 9:42
- The "shy" regret of Chisinau concerning the events in Belarus, Denis CENUSA, 26 January 2011, 9:41
Parties-Phantoms, Parties - State Institutions, Parties - State Enterprises
20 parties have registered in the current election campaign. Many people say it is a too big number for such a small country as Moldova. At the same time, much more parties could take part in the election campaign.
Activists launch Moldova’s first ‘Space Camp’ © Susan Coughtrie
Premier names ex-president "political mutton-head"
- "Moldova Azi" information portal is changing its format and editorial content, Centrul pentru Jurnalism Independent, 8 August 2011, 15:19
- Moldovan students queue up to apply for scholarships in Romania, Info-Prim Neo, 4 August 2011, 13:44
- Ukrainian scholarships not very popular in Moldova, Info-Prim Neo, 2 August 2011, 14:58
- Kent Larson: USAID will always support process of Moldova democratization, INFOTAG, 1 August 2011, 13:42
- Parliament sets up new commission - for checking civil servants' property and incomes, INFOTAG, 29 July 2011, 9:00
- Scandal in Moldovan parliament over deputies' relatives, INFOTAG, 29 July 2011, 9:00
Larger text
On Thursday, Moldovan Communist Party Chairman MP Vladimir Voronin gave a big a news conference, during which he was requested inter alia to comment the media stories that the AEI members had allegedly forced Prime Minister Vlad Filat into deciding concerning the new Constitution by blackmailing Filat with the huge consignment of contraband cigarettes from Moldova revealed last March 5 by the Romanian customs.
Voronin said, "I know Filat was summoned to Bucharest recently, where billionaire Dinu Patricio reminded him it was high time Filat had returned the money given to him for elections. Maybe, Filat recollected the cigarette business he used to run in his younger years, and decided to resort to cigarette smuggling once again".
Vladimir Voronin stated that according to the information available with him, the cigarette smuggling operation was to engage 10 heavy-duty trucks, but only 2 or three worked off successfully. According to the documents made public by the Romanian customs, the trucks were carrying metal items from Ukraine over to Bulgaria or Turkey, but changed their cargo in Moldova, and continued their route already with Moldovan cigarettes.
"I am not ruling out completely that an accord, reached previously at the top level between Romanian President Traian Basescu and Dinu Patricio, might fail. Maybe, they failed to strike a bargain at the last moment, and decided to punish somebody", said Vladimir Voronin, who believes Filat may well have fallen victim of blackmail, though Voronin has never heard Vlad Filat demanding an early parliamentary election.
So far, neither the Moldovan customs, which strangely failed to notice 700 thousand packages of contraband cigarettes worth some €380,000 despite all their sophisticated European equipment, nor the Tutun-Tutun-CTC factory of Chisinau, the cigarette manufacturer, have commented the scandal yet.
However, the Moldovan Prosecutor General's Office has already ordered to revoke from the Customs Service all the materials concerning the huge cigarette smuggling case. The Office explained in its press release today that "for the purpose of ensuring a prompter, fuller and more objective investigation of this case", this work shall be entrusted to best prosecutors from the Office itself.
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