Vladimir Voronin
The former head of state emphasized that endless audits do not solve problems, and that government agencies are treading water, which is why situations like the one at MoldATSA occur.
“I don’t know where we’re headed—toward which Europe, or somewhere else entirely. But what has been happening for many years now suggests that neither the law on the Court of Auditors nor many other laws are solving development problems or bringing order to all sectors. I compare it to the People’s Control Committee of the Moldavian SSR. It was the bane of the entire bureaucracy at the time. And there were shortcomings back then, too—that’s just how it was. But now—reports, reports, hearings, hearings—and no results. That’s how they just pop up out of nowhere: MoldATSA in one place, other organizations in another, something else in a third—and all the while, we’re treading water; we’re not moving forward, we’re not developing. In theory—yes, integration, various other things—but the end result is what we all see,” Voronin stated at a hearing of the parliamentary committee on public finance oversight.
The former president asked whether the Audit Chamber might lack sufficient legislative leverage, and whether its authority extends to the methodology for determining civil servants’ salaries: “If it does, then you have a great deal of work ahead of you.”
SP: “We Cannot Be a Menace to Institutions”
Tatyana Shevchuk, Chair of the Court of Auditors, in turn, stated that “the supreme audit institution cannot be a punitive body or a ‘bogeyman’ for institutions.”
“…Because we live in a democratic state. We strive to be part of the civilized world, and the supreme audit institution, in the context of EU integration, is a reliable partner for state institutions,” Shevchuk said.
It is worth noting that the Court of Auditors can conduct up to 60 audit missions per year.
As a reminder, the state-owned enterprise MoldATSA (air traffic control) found itself at the center of a scandal that led to a series of resignations. Journalistic investigations revealed that the enterprise’s former director, Dumitru Vangeli, had secured the position using a forged resume, while President Maia Sandu’s cousin was hired there as a press secretary without a competitive selection process, earning a salary of up to 120,000 lei per month. A subsequent CNA audit confirmed the mass hiring of employees in violation of procedures and the unjustified awarding of bonuses worth millions.
