Democratic MP Vladimir Cebotari remained without parliamentary immunity. A draft decision in this regard was voted today, September 19, at the Parliament plenary, based on the request of the General Prosecutor's Office. Vladimir Cebotari is investigated in the case regarding the illegalities committed during the "controversial concession of the Chisinau International Airport, which took place six years ago", IPN reports.
"In the criminal investigation, conclusive evidence was found indicating reasonable suspicion that during the year 2013, MP Vladimir Cebotari, exceeding his job duties, in the interest of an organized criminal group, directly contributed to the taking over of the "International Airport Chisinau" state enterprise, by initiating the public-private partnership for the concession of the airport, with the well-established purpose of handing over the assets of the state-owned enterprise to the economic operator created by and affiliated with the criminal group", stated the interim prosecutor general, Dumitru Robu, at the plenary of the Parliament. According to him, the Prosecutor's Office has established the need to urgently institute criminal proceedings against Vladimir Cebotari.
PDM MP Alexandru Jizdan mentioned that the case was filed on September 5, and after two weeks, without examining any member of the Government - a decisive body in the concession, the prosecutor came to the plenary. And he came exactly on the day when Vladimir Cebotari filed his candidacy for mayoralty. In the opinion of the parliamentarian, this is political persecution.
The Chairman of the Socialist Party group, Vlad Batrîncea, said that it was not clear why nothing had been done since 2014, when the concession process came under scrutiny of law enforcement bodies and why the cases lay in the safes. According to him, so many years have passed and it is still unclear who interfered and influenced the Prosecutor's Office.
In his address, MP Vladimir Cebotari said he had nothing to hide. He mentioned that he received several messages, without specifying from whom, in which he was told that he would be persecuted politically and was advised to leave the country. But he decided to come to the plenary to make some clarifications.
The MP says he is accused of being a member of a commission that made a technical appraisal and agreed to include the modernization fee in the concession contract. However, says Cebotari, Maia Sandu was also in the composition of the Government, which voted for the organization of the closed tender, for the establishment and attributions of the commission, of which he was a member, as well as for the approval of the concession contract. Moreover, the Parliament also has at least two decisions which establish that no deviations from the national law have been found in connection to the concession procedure. The MP argues that they want to "silence" him and there is "clear evidence that the local elections in Chisinau are fraudulent".
Before the vote, the PDM left the session room. In their speeches, MPs from the ACUM bloc and the PSRM criticized the airport concession procedures and the fact that the state had suffered losses owing to these actions. Parliamentarians urged law enforcement bodies to continue their investigation to shed light on the case.
The draft decision was supported by the vote of 53 MPs.
At today's hearing, September 19, the General Prosecutor's Office called for the immunity of Petru Jardan, MP of Șor Political Party to be lifted. The Parliamentary Committee on Legal Affairs, Appointments and Immunities proposed to postpone the examination for Friday, 09.30, as the parliamentarian was absent from the sitting.
His party colleague, Denis Ulanov, said that Petru Jardan was called and said he would not be able to show up earlier than next week. The MP also said that Peter Jardan was not hiding.
