The working group responsible for tenders at the Ministry of Education, which includes former Minister of Education Mihail Shleahtitski, will be investigated, Gheorghe Ciobanu, prosecutor of the Financial-Economic Investigations of the Prosecutor General’s Office, announced on December 19, Info-Prim Neo reports. According to the prosecutor, in November 2009 the Ministry of Education held a tender contest to purchase 12 school buses within the Quality Education in the Rural Areas of Moldova Project, which is financed under an agreement signed by the Government of Moldova and the International Development Association. East Auto Lada SRL was designated as winner of the contest and was to provide 10 IVECO buses at the price of €77,900 per unit, even if Auto Prezent SRL offered PAZ-4234-70 buses for €32,000 per unit. “The buses were bought for a double price. The prosecution was started based on this documented fact,” Gheorghe Ciobanu told a news conference. In another tender for the purchase of school buses, held in August 2010, there was accepted the only bidder - Auto Prezent SRL. Thus, the Ministry of Education bought 14 PAZ-4234-70 buses for 738,000 lei per unit, after arguing in the first contest that these buses do not meet the technical parameters. The prosecutors established that at several tenders the Ministry bought 100 buses at a double price, even if a number of economic entities presented contracts for the sale of buses at much lower prices to the working group. Gheorghe Ciobanu also said that if the functionaries are found guilty, they will serve 2 to 6 years in jail and will be prevented from holding certain posts