A division head of the Agency for Intervention and Payments in Agriculture (AIPA) and a contractor were sued for negligence and swindle when applying for a World Bank grant, IPN reports, quoting the Prosecutor General’s Office.
According to investigators, in January-February 2014, pursuing the goal of illegally obtaining a grant allocated to Moldova by the World Bank within the Moldova Agricultural Competitiveness Project (MAC-P) “Enhancing market access potential”, the entrepreneur convinced a group of producers to found an entrepreneur’s cooperative, promising them common financial benefits.
The cooperative’s manager filed an application to the AIPA, asking to be allotted an investment grant for purchasing two frigorific trucks with semi-trailers and cold-storage facilities needed to modernize the storehouse, indicating that the value of the project was of 11.5 million lei, while the cost of the investment facility for the grant portion was of 9.8 million lei. The grant represented 42.3% of this sum, while the attracted sources 57.7%.
Later, even if he didn’t have own sources for investment to obtain the grant, the manager presented false data to the project coordinator and to the AIPA’s Administration and Control Division. Consequently, the AIPA division head, out of negligence, in September 2014 signed the contract to provide a grant portion of 4.8 million lei to the cooperative. The money was transferred to the account of the beneficiary.
Realizing that this is unable to fulfill the obligation to co-finance the investment project in the amount of at least 50% of the total investment, the manager used the grant to purchase only frigorific trucks with semi-trailers, the contribution of the cooperative being of only 870,800 lei, which is about 15.73% of the total investment.
The entrepreneur illegally benefited from WB funds of 4.8 million lei, which is to be reimbursed to the backer by the state, based on the agreement between Moldova and the World Bank.
The AIPA division head faces up to six years in jail for professional negligence and ban on performing particular activities or holding particular posts for a period of five to ten years. Simultaneously, he could serve up to 15 years behind bars for swindle and falsification of statements.
