Stamate on Selling Topaz: Collusion Cannot Be Ruled Out, It’s a Pity We Reached This Point

“We cannot rule out coordinated or deliberate actions of some responsible persons in order to facilitate the deal” in the case of the Chisinau-based Topaz factory, which was recently sold to a Russian company. Olesea Stamate, PAS deputy and head of the parliament’s legal commission, said during a Secretele Puterii programme. “This issue is quite worrying. As long as rampant corruption is still present, including the justice system, as well as in other state bodies, we cannot rule out coordinated or deliberate actions of some responsible persons from certain departments in order to facilitate a deal. It is important to check and act promptly. It is very unfortunate that it came to this and this auction took place, although it was blocked. I hope that CNPF officials have solutions even after suspension of this deal,” Olesea Stamate claimed. The head of the Legal Commission said the bill approved by the government on Wednesday, which refers to a national mechanism for implementing international sanctions, was not relevant to the case, but acknowledged that such companies would fall under the Magnitsky Act. “I don’t think it would be possible to link this case to the bill. I don’t think you can say that the approval of the bill right now is or appears to be a conditional event. The first version of the Magnitsky Act was proposed by former Justice Minister Litvinenko. As far as I know, the Ministry of Justice has been working quite intensively on the new bill’s drafting, which is about to go to parliament. (...) This company will not necessarily be included in the sanctions list,” Olesea Stamate added, referring to the participants in the deal with the Topaz factory. As previously reported, the Moldovan government approved a draft amendment to the law on the application of international restrictive measures. Thus, the authorities will be able to confiscate the assets of sanctioned companies. This happened about a week after the publication of an investigation on the sale of the Topaz factory in Chisinau. The deal was done secretly, in Moscow, without government involvement. The Topaz factory’s general director is a Russian citizen, Inna Linich, who previously held a position in Tiraspol. The Topaz factory in Chisinau was sold on 9 October for 16 million euros, although its real value, according to experts, could have been much higher.