Employees of the State Enterprise "Moldatsa" have benefited from huge salaries, increments, bonuses for tasks included in their job responsibilities and zero interest rate loans estimated at thousands of dollars in the past two years. Many of them are relatives of state officials. All these in conditions when in 2014, the total revenue decreased by 68.7 million lei against 2013.

Veaceslav Frunze, head of the State Enterprise “Moldatsa” as of August 2014, was dismissed at the beginning of September 2015. Shortly, Iurie Chirinciuc, Minister of Transportation and Road Infrastructure (MTID), who has been managing this enterprise, ordered an audit report at  Moldatsa. We wrote about it in May 2015, that it is a group of many state officials, who raise salaries of thousands of lei per month. The audit was carried out between January 2014- August 2015 by the MTID staff and proved the rout registered at Moldatsa.

„Favourite” from Moldatsa was appointed judge

At the beginning of 2014, before Frunze was appointed, the institution was managed by Petru Erhan on interim basis. The audit found out that on May 14, 2015, Petru Erhan employed his daughter Corina Cecan (Erhan before marriage) for the seat of manager of the Directorate of External and Public Relations. The same information revealed a dubious practice. Thus, some persons were employed at Moldatsa, they got high salaries from the enterprise and they worked for MTID.

It is the case of Vitalie-Silviu Midrigan. He was employed on January 21, 2014 as manager of the Legal Direction at Moldatsa with a monthly salary amounted at 10 thousands lei and the coefficient of complexity 1.5. He got a monthly salary of 15 thousands lei. On the second day, on January 22, following an order, he was delegated to MTID, for the seat of interim head of the Direction of Air Transportation. In 2014, though he worked only one day at Moldatsa, the accounts of the enterprise reveal that Vitalie-Silviu Midrigan  raised salaries amounted at 543 thousands lei, and for some weeks in January 2015- a sum of 41 thousands lei. Though, he got a salary of 15 thousands lei per month, he got a sum of 70 thousands lei- additional money for work experience, 81 thousands lei –monthly compensations, 71 thousands lei- bonus for holiday, 99 thousand lei-one time allowance, 33 thousands lei - „payment of the average salary for business trip”, 40 thousands lei – annual leave in 2014 and 2015 (though he has worked only 3 weeks this year), 22 thousands lei - „financial assistance”. In January 2015, Vitalie-Silviu Midrigan renounced on these facilities to make justice and he was appointed judge at the Botanica-based Court in Chisinau.

On 1 April 2014, Midrigan was employed by Moldatsa  and he was delegated to  MTID. The institution employed a new head at the Legal Direction, Vitalie Novac, godson of the Minister of MTID in that period, Vasile Botnari. He was employed at Moltdatsa with a monthly salary estimated at 16 thousands lei. These actions of Petru Erhan, intermediary manager at Moldatsa in the period of appointments, brought a prejudice estimated at about 600 thousands lei to the institution, writes the audit report.  Aliona Sviderscaia and Natalia Tulun were employed and paid by Moldatsa but they were delegated to MTID. In 2014 and some months from 2015, they raised almost half a million of lei from Moldatsa’s accounts, though they worked at the MTID.

High salaries and one-time allowances for some employees

Salaries at Moldatsa are set by law and the stimulation of employees in 2014-2015 was set by 3 internal regulations. Thus, a coefficient of complexity of 1,5 was applied for the operative staff within the Directorate of Air Traffic Service. They get a salary and a half. The employees under the Technical Direction had a coefficient of 1,2  and the employees within the Service of Information- a coefficient of 1,1. The audit report wrote that they ignored these regulations and they applied the coefficient of complexity 1,5 for the managers, a fact that conditioned the groundless rise in their salaries. Thus, Petru Erhan, former interim manager at Moldatsa,  current deputy manager, received a salary supplement amounted at 147 thousands lei in 2014 and 2015, Eduard Ceabei another deputy manager raised 362 thousands lei, Mariana Tabuica (Vladimir Cebotari’s sister), financial director at Moldatsa, current Minister of Justice and deputy Minister of Transportation raised 373 thousand lei, Vitalie Novac, director of the Legal Direction, god son of the former Minister of Transportation Vasile Botnari- 255 thousands lei. Andrei Adam, director of the administrative direction, Natalia Adam’s husband wrote on a socialization net that he is working for  Vlad Plahotniuc’s night club Drive and he received  a salary supplement amounted at 178 thousands lei, Corina Cecan, director of the Direction of Foreign and Public Relations, Petru Erhan’s daughter- 158 thousands lei and  Silviu-Vitalie Midrigan-185 thousands lei.  Given these reasons, the audit report wrote that Moldatsa bore groundless expenditures for salaries amounted at 1,7 million lei  in 2014-2015.

Over the same period of time, 4 employees of Moldatsa  benefited from  salary increase by 20%  as „indemnity for discretion”: Mariana Tabuica – 75 thousands lei, Petru Erhan – 41 thousands lei, Eduard Ceabei – 71 thousands lei and Vitalie Novac- 42 thousands lei.  In all, the audit team established that the manager of Moldatsa set illegal monthly allowances amounted at 10 million lei in 2014. The employees got one time allowances (!) for tasks included in their job responsibilities: participation in different meetings, performing annual control or participation in annual meetings. Silviu-Vitalie Midrigan (99 thousands), Mariana Tabuica (63 thousands), Vitalie Novac (48 thousands) and Eduard Ceabei (36 thousands) raised the highest allowances.

39 employees got zero interest rate loans. 2 - with exclusive conditions

Under an internal regulation in 2009, the employees of the institution can benefit from loans from the Reserve Fund of Moldatsa. According to the data of accounting, on January 1 2014, employees of Moldatsa had debts to the enterprise amounted at 957 thousands lei. In the period of auditing (2014-2015), the leadership of the enterprise offered zero interest rate loans (!) amounted at 995 thousands lei. About 39 employees benefited from such loans in 2014-2015. If some of them received „credits” amounted at some thousands of lei, others – credits estimated at thousands of lei. Thus, Valentin Merioara benefited from a credit amounted at 233 thousands lei and on September 23, 2015 he had to repay a sum of 153 thousands lei. Vitalie Novac (Vasile Botnari’s godson) took a credit amounted at 150 thousands lei and in late September he had to repay 73 thousands lei to the enterprise. Mariana Tabuica contracted “credits” two times, in 2014 and 2015, amounted at 200 thousands lei and on September 23, 2015 she had to repay 148 thousands lei to the enterprise.

The loan agreements between Moldatsa and the employee stipulate that under dismissals, they must repay the total sum of the credit. Two exceptions: Mariana Tabuica and Vitalie Novac ,their agreements do not include such a provision.  The audit report established that given this reason, „ there is a high risk of credits’ non-repayment in set terms by these 2 persons.