Personnel purges began in the ruling PAS party amid the scandal surrounding the state-owned enterprise MoldATSA. The president’s cousin Maia Sandu was expelled from the party, and the president herself held a hasty press briefing on July 1, at which she called on the government, the tax service and the National Anti-Corruption Center to conduct an audit of all state-owned enterprises. About whether this will help the party in power avoid an image crisis, and why the scandal around MoldATSA broke out just during the discussion of the difficult reforms initiated by PAS – in the material of NM.
PAS mired in scandal
The state enterprise MoldATSA (responsible for air navigation services, air traffic control and airspace administration) found itself at the center of a scandal after high-profile journalistic investigations. As reported by ZdG, Dumitru Vangheli, the appointed director of MoldATSA, indicated false data in his CV. He allegedly obtained his pilot’s license from one of Canada’s largest private pilot academies, and after that he worked as a passenger pilot for Air Canada for two years. However, Air Canada told reporters it had no record of such an employee. Also, according to ZdG, the information about Vangeli’s pilot’s license has not been confirmed.
Vangeli’s candidacy was promoted by PAS MP Radu Marian. He publicly admitted his mistake and resigned from his post as chairman of the parliamentary commission on economics, budget and finance. Vangeli himself was suspended from office during an internal investigation.
The scandal with the president’s cousin Anastasia Taburceanu caused a much greater resonance. According to an investigation by Rise Moldova, Taburceanu, while working as a press secretary at MoldATSA, received a salary of 120 thousand lei per month – eight times more than the average salary in the economy and almost four times more than the salary of the head of state.
In a comment to Newsmaker, Taburceanu stated that her official salary is 25.7 thousand lei plus “additions for length of service and workload, payments related to business trips,” without mentioning other sources of remuneration within the company.
After the scandal erupted, Taburceanu resigned from her position at MoldATSA and announced that she would return all the bonuses and additional payments she received. She also apologized for the consequences of her decisions, saying they “caused people who had nothing to do with this situation to suffer.”
The head of the State Property Agency, Roman Kozhukhar, also resigned. And the authorities decided to transfer the agency from subordination to the government to subordination to the Ministry of Economic Development and Digitalization, which is headed by Evgeniy Osmokescu. The head of the Cabinet of Ministers, Alexander Munyatnu, instructed Osmokescu to conduct an assessment of the agency’s activities and present “a clear reorganization plan.”
Meanwhile, the National Anti-Corruption Center (NCC) took over the state-owned enterprise MoldATSA. Based on the results of searches carried out in MoldATSA, the NACB reported that in 2023–2024 the state-owned enterprise hired 33 employees without holding competitions. However, none of them were asked for a certificate of professional integrity, although this is required by law. In addition, the audit revealed cases of appointment to senior positions using the “direct search” method, that is, without transparent procedures and objective selection criteria. Law enforcement officers also pointed out shortcomings in the system of bonuses and payment of allowances. According to the NAC, internal mechanisms do not contain clear criteria for assessing the performance of employees, which creates conditions for arbitrary calculation of payments.
It should also be noted that, following Taburceanu, a whole list of names of Sandu’s relatives appeared on the Internet, employed in various government positions with large salaries. However, as for Sandu’s cousin, the state enterprise Moldelectrica said that he has been working at the company for more than 30 years, and he was appointed to the position based on a competition.
A blow to Sand?
On July 1, PAS leader Igor Grosu announced that Anastasia Taburceana was expelled from the party. PAS management also demanded that the government dismiss the director of the state-owned enterprise Metalferos, Petru Bondar. He, as well as Mihai Bondar and Liliya Koika, were also expelled from the party due to suspicions of a conflict of interest.
On the same day, President Maia Sandu held a press conference, which was announced an hour before the start. The president demanded that the government conduct audits of all state-owned enterprises and review the way people are appointed to key positions. Sandu said that candidates need to be carefully checked, involving, among others, the ISS and the National ACC. The president also called on the Cabinet of Ministers to review the composition of the administrative councils of state-owned enterprises and reduce their number. Regarding her cousin, Sandu said: “In almost every family there is a person who creates trouble.”
The President admitted that PAS lost some of the support of citizens due to the scandal with salaries in MoldATSA.
Meanwhile, political analyst Jan Lisnevsky believes that the scandal around MoldATSA will most affect Sandu herself. “PAS does not have its own rating. Their entire rating is the rating of Maia Sandu. And now they are hitting it directly,” the expert noted.
According to him, such a scandal is “cumulative” and “it has been brewing for a long time.” “Many people knew about such cases, but there was not so much discontent,” Lisniewski said. He believes that it was discontent in society caused by other problems that provoked such a reaction to the current scandal: “There have been scandals before. But they reacted differently. Now the level of dissatisfaction with the current government is very high.”
It is worth noting that the scandal erupted against the backdrop of a difficult discussion of tax reform for the authorities. The PAS party intends to increase taxes, which will lead to rising prices and the cost of living in Moldova. In parallel with this, the party is carrying out another unpopular reform – administrative-territorial.
Lisnevsky admits that the current scandal is a planned blow against Sand from within the party. “There is talk that everything is planned from the outside. But this is unlikely. And this is not the work of someone from the opposition. This is an internal conflict within the party in power itself,” the expert believes. According to him, there are not two, but many groups in PAS: “One of them is the group that will soon lose power. That is, President Sandu and her inner circle. They are now being attacked. This was also the case in other parties in power.”
However, despite the wide resonance, the scandal around MoldATSA is unlikely to have a significant impact on the party’s electoral results. “Usually such scandals last 36 hours. Then voters gradually forget everything,” Lisnevsky noted. However, according to him, other scandals may occur in the run-up to the elections that will affect the results of PAS.
The current scandal, in his opinion, may affect the external image of the country: “This could significantly slow down European integration. And in general, this may reduce the level of support for European integration, since the PAS rating is tied to the rating of the European exchange rate.
Does PAS need a reboot?
Doctor of Political Sciences Angela Kolacki also suggests that “groups within PAS have become more active,” however, according to her, this does not negate the weight of the current scandal: “It breaks where it is subtle. PAS has been in power for five years now, and it is obvious that negative situations will also begin to surface. This situation caused a particular resonance because PAS came to power on a wave of anti-corruption slogans and a promise to bring in “good people.” In reality, everything turned out to be more complicated.”
Does Kolacki think PAS needs a reboot? otherwise, the consequences for its ratings could be grim. However, the moment for this reboot has passed. “At the last (June 14) party congress, Igor Grosu was again elected chairman. They didn’t even try to portray a discussion about a change in leadership. Of course, such conversations took place behind the scenes, but they decided to leave them there. We didn’t hear any broad discussions, so the congress was more reminiscent of the CPSU congress,” Kolatsky noted.
Speaking about local elections next year, she said PAS has plenty of time to correct its mistakes. “We need to learn all the lessons. The main thing is that the ruling party does not decide that admitting mistakes is weakness. No, this is political maturity,” the expert concluded.
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You can contribute to quality journalism by supporting us one-time through the E-commerce system from maib bank or by taking out a monthly subscription to Patreon! This way you will become part of changing Moldova for the better. Thanks to your support, we will be able to implement even more new and important projects and remain independent. No matter how you support us, you will receive a small gift. Follow the link to become our partner. It’s not difficult and even pleasant.
