A group of persons take concerted actions with the aim of appropriating 1.2 ha of state-owned land and of demolishing “Național” Hotel in Chisinau so as to build a multifunctional complex that will be 128,000 square meters in area instead of this. The costs for building such a complex amount to €65-70 million. But nobody wondered where Shor and Andronachi took this money from, Sergiu Tofilat, a member of the group that investigated the illegalities related to “Naţional” Hotel, stated in a news conference at IPN.

Sergiu Tofilat said he will request the prosecutor general to institute criminal proceedings over the illegal decisions and actions taken in 2019, when the Chisinau Municipal Council decided to lease out “Național” Hotel, and in 2020, 2021, by this group of persons who act concertedly.

“The demolition authorization still exists. It wasn’t withdrawn. We also call on mayor general Ion Ceban to open an internal inquiry over the steps taken by the Architecture Division, Missis Dogotaru, Legal Division chief Valeriu Bogdan, deputy mayors Chironda and Ilie Ceban, the illegal actions taken by these when issuing documents,” stated the member of the investigative group.

“If we take into account the money laundering risks, it’s not clear where Shor and Andronachi took €65-70 million that is needed to build a multifunctional complex instead of “Național” Hotel from”.

Sergiu Tofilat noted the scheme involves functionaries of the Chisinau City Hall, the Public Property Agency, the State Chancellery, the Supreme Court Justice, the Chisinau Prosecutor’s Office, the National Anticorruption Center – state institutions that should have stopped the illegalities in this case. These functionaries acted concertedly in favor of the owners of “Național” Hotel, Ilan Shor and Vladimir Andronachi. “The Chisinau Prosecutor’s Office and NAC were notified, but they didn’t do anything to stop these illegalities.

“We consider this is a danger to national security. We risk losing state-owned land. There can be yet other episodes about which we do not know. We will go to the Supreme Security Council and will ask it to examine the situation and determine why the state institutions do not do their job. When Parliament is constituted, we will ask to set up a special commission of inquiry into this case. Our estimates show the probable damage to the state in this case will total about €15 million,” stated Sergiu Tofilat.  

Group member Roman Guneavyi, entrepreneur, business development consultant, said they do not accuse anyone as this is the duty of the responsible institutions. He presented the chronology of the events related to “Național” Hotel, the actions taken by the beneficiaries of “Alfa-Engineering”, the administration of “Moldova-Tur” and some of the state institutions in relation to this case.