Maia Sandu
The situation is exacerbated by the fact that Anastasia Taburchanu—a member of the president’s inner circle and family—is involved in this case. Maia Sandu stated that she was unaware of these abuses, but emphasized that this is no excuse; rather, it only proves the existence of a serious systemic failure that requires radical intervention and a “cleanup” within government agencies.
“We need people with sufficient managerial experience, people with expertise in specific areas for these positions, and people who are honest. That is precisely why we have agencies where leaders have remained acting heads for years—because we have been unable to find people capable of meeting these requirements. As we can see, some fraudsters have taken advantage of this difficulty in finding personnel, and there is a risk that there will be more such people,” Sandu said.
To address chronic problems related to the management of state institutions, the president outlined three main areas of structural reform.
“A Clean Sweep”
The first area concerns a radical overhaul of the mechanism for recruiting and appointing senior officials. Maia Sandu stated that in the future, to block dubious individuals from accessing key positions, it will become mandatory to obtain vetting reports from the Information and Security Service (SIS) and the National Anti-Corruption Center. This will be backed by rigorous vetting of professional backgrounds and references from previous employers.
The second component of the reform focuses on improving the efficiency and ensuring full transparency of state-owned enterprises. The government will strictly limit and regulate the compensation of board members and introduce a rule stipulating that an individual may serve on only one board. Public companies will be required to publish clear performance metrics every six months, as well as annual financial statements, external audit reports, and procurement budgets. A significant measure will be the division of the Public Property Agency into two separate entities: one will focus exclusively on modernizing commercially viable companies, while the other will manage non-performing assets or assets undergoing insolvency proceedings. In addition, the process of listing minority stakes on domestic and regional stock exchanges will begin to implement international corporate governance standards.
The third area is aimed at strictly cracking down on abuses and recovering damages. The President publicly called on the Tax Service, the National Anti-Corruption Center, and other regulatory agencies to thoroughly investigate the report of violations at Moldatsa—including conflicts of interest, hiring without competitive selection, and unjustified bonuses—”regardless of the political affiliation or family ties” of those involved. All illegally obtained funds must be returned to the state. In addition, the State Chancellery will conduct an assessment of all consultant contracts funded by external sources to ensure the effective use of resources in the process of European integration.
“We are committed to bringing the Republic of Moldova into the European Union. This is too important a path, and we have put too much effort into it to let this opportunity slip away. We must close all loopholes, bring order to government agencies—and I am referring first and foremost to the heads of these agencies—and restore the people’s trust in our commitment to build a just state and a free European country,” the president concluded.
