The Scandal Spiral
Weekly Roundup: Munteanu resigns again as PAS struggles to regain control of the narrative
On July 7 Newsmaker reported that Interim Prime Minister Munteanu was planning to step down (again). After originally resigning on July 3, thereby causing the government to fall, President Sandu had announced that Alexandru Munteanu would continue as Interim Prime Minister until a new candidate could be appointed and given a vote of confidence in parliament. This apparently was not to be, and Munteanu announced he was leaving immediately and that Deputy Prime Minister for Digitization and the Economy, Eugen Osmochescu, would take over in an interim capacity on July 8.
This change was accepted and signed in a decree by President Sandu without comment. Interim Prime Minister Osmochescu then posted on facebook saying that he “accepted this responsibility with honor and full seriousness” and stating that his priority will be to ensure continuity in this period.
This unexpected switch came after days of confusion following Munteanu’s first resignation where he stated that he can no longer work according to his “principles and beliefs.” Asked what this meant by a journalist, he gave a confusing answer stating:
“(…) I understand that they expect a controversy. I tried not to look at social networks, but with one eye and from what those who looked told me, 90% of those scenarios that were circulated are not true. It’s a more complicated story. I think time will put things in order (…). My conscience is very clear, I did what I had to do, and now I continue my duty, as I said in my message. I will ensure a smooth, professional transition, we are in the process of European integration, we cannot afford to create controversial situations (…)”,
**Update: Immediately before publishing PAS leader Igor Grosu stated that Alexandru Munteanu's was in fact due to an heated discussion he had with Minister of Education Dan Perciun. Grosu stated:
“There were no discussions about the weather outside. There were discussions about policy. Yes, there was a topic related to fiscal policy - the way it was presented, the way responsibility for it was assumed, and the contradictory discussions that followed.”
President Sandu announced on July 9 that she had called all parliamentary factions to consultations on the appointment of the next prime minister. She will meet with opposition parties on Friday July 10 and with PAS on Saturday July 11. The Socialists, MAN and the Communists have all stated that they will boycott the consultations.
New Details in the MoldATSA Scandal
If you need to catch up - here are parts 1 & 2 of Moldova Matter’s coverage of MoldATSA:
On June 30 the National Anti-Corruption Center (CNA) announced preliminary results from their assessment of the institutional integrity of the company MoldATSA. This assessment found that 33 employees were hired without a publicly announced competitive process, multiple employees maintained 2-3 paid positions at the company for long periods of time, arbitrary salary and bonus structures and other “significant deficiencies” in the recruiting and hiring process.
They also identified problems in the professional trainings purchased for staff. MoldATSA is a member of the European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation (Eurocontrol). This entitled employees to attend professional trainings from Eurocontrol for free - with MoldATSA only paying for travel and lodging.
But MoldATSA management, including then Director Dumitru Vangheli, regularly attended courses by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). These were much more expensive, with course + travel costing between 80,000 and 120,000 lei / person compared to 25,000 - 40,000 from Eurocontrol. Most troubling of all, Dumitru Vangheli traveled to 3 courses on the same topic in 2025 and in one case attended an IATA course in Singapore that was held 2 months before Eurocontrol held an identical course (for free) in Chisinau.
On July 5 the CNA updated their assessment with allegations of a possible deliberate fragmentation of public procurements from MoldATSA. By statute, the company needed to approve any purchase over 400,000 lei with their owner - the Public Property Agency (APP). Additional procurements must go through a public bid process unless they are very minor. CNA reported on the purchase of a 2 million lei security system that was broken into 14 separate contracts given to 3 companies. Many of these contracts were made on the same day and the CNA reported that 2 of the companies have the same beneficial owner.
Criminal investigations at MoldATSA are ongoing.
Political Fallout and Reactions
On July 1 President Sandu held a press conference to address the expanding scandal at MoldATSA. There she called for 5 immediate actions to be taken by the government:
Review how appointments are made to state companies and require SIS and CNA checks for candidates
Review all boards of directors, ban people from serving on multiple boards, recalibrate / regulate pay
Creating a plan for listing “minority stakes” in all state owned companies on the stock exchange to bring more transparency and international standards to their governance
Mandate annual publications of company reports, remuneration reports, external audit reports, etc
Break the APP into 2 parts - one to manage active investments (productive companies) and one to manage passive assets - such as land and the property of former state companies in liquidation
In the short term she called for a rigorous audit of all state owned companies and for people guilty of abuses to be held accountable “regardless of party, family or other ties.”
She also called on a review of all consulting contracts for government support staff hired by international partners. She stated:
“We will do a general clean-up, all those who broke the law will be punished. People from PAS should look around, make sure that all team members, at all levels, are still loyal to the values that were the basis for the creation of the party of European values. We have an obligation to take the Republic of Moldova to the EU. It is too important a path and we have made too many efforts on this path to miss it. We need to clean up the institutions, especially among the leaders of these institutions, and restore people’s trust in our commitment to building a fair state and a free and European country,”
Asked about her cousin Anastasia Tăburceanu she stated:
“I can’t understand what happened in the case of Anastasia Taburceanu, I don’t recognize her, I can’t explain these things to myself. Unfortunately, in every family or almost every family there is a person who makes a joke that gives you a headache. I regret this. (…) I have always earned my honest salary and this was my message to everyone, including those in the family”
PAS Expels 4 Party Members
Party leader Igor Grosu apologized to citizens for the scandal at MoldATSA and called the ZdG investigation a “hard lesson.” He announced the expulsion of 4 members of PAS - Anastasia Taburceanu, Mihai Bondari, Petru Bondari and Lilia Coică. He also demanded that Petru Bondari resign as the director of the state enterprise Metalferos.
While Anastasia Taburceanu was clearly caught up in the MoldATSA scandal, the other 3 members expelled were related to a different scandal that has slowly unfolded in the town of Coșnița over the last year. This scandal, which we have not covered at Moldova Matters previously (see footnote1), involved a company owned (allegedly) by Petru and Mihai Bondari which purchased agricultural land by the entrance to the town and then re-zoned it for pit mining sand. The scandal is complex, and contested, but apparently PAS decided that it was time to take action as both of the Bondari brothers were involved in district level politics.
Petru Bondari resigned as the director of Metalferos, but denied wrongdoing and claimed that he sold the company implicated in the mining development in 2024. He was not accused of any wrongdoing at the state enterprise, but chose to heed Grosu’s call for his resignation.
Igor Grosu promised additional steps to win back trust saying:
“I know that anything we say now will be met with distrust and people’s revolt is natural. I understand that words are less credible and actions are needed to demonstrate that we have not deviated from the principles of integrity, fairness and honesty. And that is what we will do,”
More scandals and responses… and scandals…
Here’s a roundup of the latest scandals to rock the government and the responses taken to try and contain the growing crisis:
NEW SCANDAL: On July 2 CNA officers detained Tatiana Nistorică, State Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture. On the same day they conducted searches at the ministry and detained a representative of a private company. Allegedly the company was trying to import animal feed from Ukraine but had been blocked by the National Food Safety Agency (ANSA) due to “irregularities found during the inspections carried out.” According to the CNA, the company bribed Tatiana Nistorică to resume imports. Nistorică had only been appointed State Secretary in February and previously had a series of highly respected roles in civil society - including as the President of the “Moldova Organic Agriculture Value Chain Alliance” (MOVCA). She is currently in pre-trial detention in Prison 13. Minister of Agriculture Ludmila Catlabuga has stated that the ministry is cooperating and is in the process of dismissing her.
Parliament has created a Commission of Inquiry into the activities of state owned enterprises. The commission will have a mandate to investigate management and remuneration at these companies and will return to parliament with a report and set of recommendations in 60 days. The commission will consist of 11 members and be led by MP Dinu Plîngău2. In addition to Plîngău, the commission will include 5 additional PAS MPs - Vasile Grădinaru, Marcel Spatari, Victoria Belous, Alexandr Trubca and Marina Morozova. Opposition parties will each appoint 1 MP to the commission. This composition includes senior PAS members and a fairly independent chair signaling a strong process… but then…
NEW SCANDAL: MP Alexandr Trubca and his “million-dollar investments.” TV8’s program Black Box is promising us information as to what those investments are on their Sunday broadcast. In order to pre-empt whatever this story is, Alexandr Trubca has put out a series of long facebook posts explaining a complex land deal he is involved in. The land is in the Chisinau suburb of Trușeni and Trubca claims that his company purchased this land but he is not actively involved in the business nor is he involved in any local council decisions around construction permitting. Then, we find that the former (as in resigned last week due to MoldATSA) director of the Public Property Agency (APP) also has a company that is also somehow involved in this land deal. Both men deny actively developing a business while in public office and both deny collaborating together on this development project - in which they (apparently) co-own land. We’ll have to wait until Sunday to find out more.
Where were the whistleblowers? Last week we wrote about how former MoldATSA director Dumitru Vangheli’s friend in Canada knew that he had faked his CV, confronted him about it, (maybe?) used it to try and push Vangheli to repay a debt, and then just told no one about it until after the story broke. Now we found that Dumitru Vangheli’s brother, Anatoliy Vanheli, is a career diplomat and is currently serving as Moldova’s Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Apparently the fact that Moldova’s air traffic control system was being run by a pizza delivery driver was known to at least one public official.
Anastasia Tăburceanu has returned 500,000 lei of her MoldATSA salary. This was announced on July 9 by Igor Grosu who noted that she will continue until it is fully paid back.
New Tactic - Blame Plahotniuc
On July 9 PAS leader Igor Grosu made a statement trying to put all of these unfolding scandals into context - the context of a deliberate campaign by Vladimir Plahotniuc. He stated:
“Beyond all these incidents, my preliminary conclusion: it is a campaign, the traces of this campaign lead to a cell at Penitentiary No. 13 ,”
This was echoed by Minister of Education Dan Perciun who wrote on facebook:
“It is obvious that we are witnessing a concerted attack from the oligarchic-criminal groups that have been hit hard in recent years, but which have nevertheless maintained their tentacles in Parliament, in the area of influencers and through certain “press” portals. (…) If he loses on appeal, Plahotniuc will actually end up in the situation of serving hard years in prison. (…) The examination of the appeal begins on August 24. Until then, the goal is to completely discredit the government and send a signal of vulnerability to the judicial system: the power is wavering, are you sure you want to convict the capo di tutti i capi? This is the feeling of chaos that the criminal groups are trying to induce”
A few hours later Grosu apologized “to all honest journalists and the independent press” and thanked journalists for investigations that hold the government accountable. At the same time, he continued to accuse oligarchs “Plahotniuc, Platon, Shor” of amplifying these scandals to create “hate” in society.
I’ll leave my quick thoughts on this tactic in a footnote for those who are interested3.
Other News
The prime minister’s resignation (twice?) and the many unfolding scandals has mostly taken over the news cycle. Here’s a quick roundup of the other stories worth watching from the past week:
On July 6 Moldova marked the “Day of Commemoration of the Victims of Deportations and Repressions of the Totalitarian Communist Regime” and the 85th anniversary of the Stalinist deportations. Unfortunately, the event was overshadowed by a protocol error whereby the announcer forgot to mention Interim Prime Minister Munteanu while introducing the President and Speaker of Parliament. Over the month of June more than 20,000 people visited the memorial train cars in Chisinau and Balti. If you’d like to know more about the history behind this event see this article by Cathy Byrd published by Moldova Matters last year:
Completion of the Vulcănești - Chișinău “Independence Line” has been delayed again. Last year Prime Minister Recean promised the line would be in service in December 2025 in time for winter. Then it was delayed until June 2026. Now, it has been pushed back again until December 31, 2026. This was announced by the World Bank which is financing the project and said that “the estimated completion date was severely delayed by the contractor” - referring specifically to the contractor building out the Chisinau high-voltage substation. Overall work on the project has been rated “satisfactory” by the World Bank which announced a firm plan for completion with the contractor and a savings of $4 million dollars off the planned amount.
TV8 Investigation - “Inhuman living conditions for more than 80 workers from Bangladesh and Nepal, employed in Moldova.” The investigation showed how up to 100 foreign workers were being housed in 8 sleeper train wagons that had been relocated onto the grounds of a factory in Chisinau. The company, which manufactures windows, argues that the living conditions are adequate, but a previous inspection by the General Inspectorate for Migration from July 2025 found that “foreign workers employed by these companies were housed in precarious and totally inadequate living conditions, especially in disused train carriages.” Following TV8’s investigation inspectors promised to return and do a repeat inspection.
Roma Baron Artur Cerari passed away on July 4. His death caused an outpouring of support and warm messages on social media for the man who was the leader of Soroca’s Roma community since 1998. The title of Baron is expected to pass to one of his children.
Moldova celebrates American Independence Day. On July 4 the Moldovan parliament was lit up with the American flag as was the Triumphal Arch. Fireworks were organized in the city center as well. Speaker of Parliament Igor Grosu praised the partnership with the US writing:
“Step by step, we have built roads, modernized schools and kindergartens, expanded access to water and sanitation, and taken important steps to strengthen our energy independence and democratic institutions. For the Republic of Moldova, the United States is a trusted friend, standing by us when we need it most ,”
This is a pretty major oversight on my part. This sand mine is literally in my town and even though I followed the story - and was aware that PAS councilors were alleged to have been involved in wrongdoing - I chalked it up as a local issue. Multiple local media investigations reported on the issue and I decided that it was well covered locally but not of interest to Moldova Matters readers. What I failed to connect (but ZdG didn’t) was that Petru Bondari (full disclosure - my neighbor) was also the director of Metalferos. This is a major state enterprise dealing with scrap metal and it has consistently been a source of corruption and scandal for past government. There are no allegations against Petru Bondari for his management of this company. But the connection - which once again I missed - elevates the story significantly.
Dinu Plîngău is caucusing with the PAS faction but is himself not a party member. He is a member of the extra-parliamentary Platform DA party and has previously been highly critical of PAS and demonstrated independence from the party.
I believe that this is the first time Plahotniuc has ever been accused of systematically exposing corruption scandals. Maybe while in prison he decided that sunlight is the best medicine?
This is insane. Yes, oligarchs and the Kremlin will delight in spreading the news of these scandals far and wide. The lesson of that is - have fewer scandals and clean up your mess now. Not - “blame Plahotniuc.”