Opinion: Theft of the Century Case Will Turn the Whole Moldova Upside Down

Regular author Sergey Cheban is convinced that the Kroll report is dangerous for the new government, as it casts a shadow on the entire political system of Moldova. The expert notes that the theft of a billion highlights the chronic diseases of the Moldovan state, which will not be blamed on Plahotniuc. Sergey Cheban, RTA The Kroll report, which the Moldovan society and some Moldovan politicians so desired, was a disappointment. The audience expected shows, guilty verdicts and, most importantly, names. The report mostly does not give names, and according to published information it is almost impossible to understand who and how much stole from the banking system of the country. Meanwhile, the Moldovan society craved this show – people needed someone to hate, and nothing more: no one believes in the return of the billion for a long time. Instead, the public saw a confused and vague document in which you cannot really understand where the legal money, and where – stolen. However, even what leaked to the media from the Kroll report casts a shadow on the entire political system of Moldova. Some names are still mentioned in the text, and even without mentioning the ultimate beneficiaries of the theft of the century, it becomes clear that dozens of businessmen, officials, and banks are associated with the scheme of withdrawing huge amounts of money from Russia and Moldova: not only in Moldova itself, but also in foreign countries. Blaming everything on Plahotniuc and Sor will not work – the “theft of the century” soots a considerable number of names, starting from the staff of the international media in Chisinau to the family of the current high-ranking officials of Moldova. The main threat of Kroll is that the report, even in such an incomplete form, reveals chronic diseases of the Moldovan state: corruption, nepotism, widespread schemes of illegal earnings and the most common embezzlement of money. It turns out that all these phenomena, which in recent years have been fashionable and convenient to attribute to the ‘Plahotniuc gang’, have actually existed in Moldova for years, lived at all levels of government, the banking system and business. And routinely mentioned Plahotniuc, Sor and other ‘anti-heroes’ of modern Moldova is just a product of the system, whose departure has not disrupted the system in the slightest. The names of the main beneficiaries in the Kroll report are hidden conveniently, otherwise they would have had the effect of not just a bomb, but a nuclear bombing – not specific politicians, but the whole country. The results of the investigation into the theft of the billion are closely monitored in Moscow, Brussels, Kyiv, Washington and other capitals, and each new page, detail and unpleasant point damage the reputation of the whole country in the eyes of the international community. Theft of the century even after 5 years keeps being radioactive and remains an absolute permanent threat to the new government. It is obvious that the leaders of the ruling coalition cannot be held responsible for the thievish nature of the Plahotniuc regime, but they will have to prove to their international partners, in word and deed, hard and very conclusively for a long time, that their political forces are not and will not be like that. This will be very difficult to do against the background of a long political path in such a thoroughly corrupt system. In fact, for the current government of Maia Sandu and Igor Dodon, ‘deoligarchization’ turns not only into a struggle with the legacy of Plahotniuc, but also a battle for trust, a battle for a good name and a military campaign against the traditional flaws of the state and society. Hardly anyone will have the courage to call this mission simple: the Kroll report has highlighted such systemic problems that Moldova needs to be turned upside down in order to learn the lessons of the “theft of the century”. The obvious injustice of the situation is that those who today have to clear up the ‘glorious deeds’ of the previous government bear the image costs of the actions of the oligarchs expelled from the country. The Sandu-Dodon government will incur even greater costs from bringing order to the ranks of the persons involved in the report currently in Moldova, because among them there may be the current allies of socialists and pro-Europeans. However, this mission can become for the new government the most difficult test of strength, and the matter of the whole political career: after all, this is a chance to prove to the world that Moldova can be different. Not a captured state, but a country of victorious justice.