President announces measures to revise criteria for appointing people to leadership positions

President Maia Sandu announced a set of measures aimed at revising the criteria for appointing people to leadership positions and strengthening control over state-owned enterprises. The actions were presented today during a press conference, in the context of the scandal at MoldATSA.

The first measure concerns the way in which managers are selected in state institutions. Thus, when appointing them, opinions from the National Anticorruption Center (NAC) and the Intelligence and Security Service (SIS) will be mandatory.

“All information regarding previous professional experience must be verified and recommendations obtained from former employers. Unfortunately, we recognize that it is sometimes very difficult to identify people for certain positions. I mean people who have sufficient managerial experience, competencies in the respective fields, and integrity. That is why we have institutions where, for many years, the leaders have been in interim positions. As we can see, some fraudsters have exploited this difficulty of identifying suitable people, and there is a risk that there are more. Thus, this vulnerability needs to be corrected quickly, as a priority. We need to rethink the way people are appointed to key positions,” said Maia Sandu.

Another measure refers to the oversight of the activity of state-owned enterprises and their managers. The actions are to be finalized by the Government.

“In recent times, several state-owned enterprises have recorded good performances, and this must be appreciated. But performance is not the same everywhere. We have seen that abuses can occur, as happened at MoldATSA. To correct things, the Government must undertake several measures. First of all, it is about reducing the number of boards of directors and decreasing the number of their members. We must ensure that a person can be part of only one board, not several. We must also ensure that the remuneration of board members is regulated. I know that in most boards, payments amount to a few thousand lei. I am referring to situations where these are exaggerated and unjustified,” Maia Sandu stressed.

The official mentioned that, for each state-owned enterprise, performance indicators will be established, which will be assessed every six months.

“It is also necessary to implement a listing plan on the stock exchange, both in the Republic of Moldova and on regional markets, for minority packages of assets that qualify. This will bring more transparency and corporate governance at international standards. We plan the annual publication by enterprises of financial statements, external audit reports, the report of the board of directors, information on management remuneration, and the procurement report,” said Maia Sandu.

Another action targets the separation of productive assets – companies with commercial potential – from passive ones, such as land, buildings, or assets in insolvency proceedings.

“This means that the Public Property Agency is to be divided into two entities: one that will be responsible for enterprises with potential, to modernize them and increase their value, and the other to deal with other assets. In the short term, there is a need for control of all enterprises to verify how money is being used. I refer in particular to salaries and public procurement. It is true that there are positions that require special skills for managing complex processes. In such cases, salaries must be appropriate, but performance does not mean abuses. The Government must intervene to draw a clear line between fair remuneration and harming the state budget,” Maia Sandu noted.

In this context, the head of state reiterated that all abuses committed within state institutions will be sanctioned. She requested SIS, NAC, and other relevant institutions to strictly verify the legality of all actions and decisions, regardless of party affiliation, family ties, or other connections.

“NAC is investigating the situation at MoldATSA and has published a report that analyzes conflicts of interest, fraudulent use of funds, favoring certain economic agents, hiring without competition where it was mandatory, unjustified bonuses and salary increases, and many others. Even though I do not have the authority to tell control institutions what to do, I am making a public request to SIS, NAC, and other relevant institutions to rigorously verify the legality of these actions and decisions, regardless of party, kinship, or other ties. Nothing can serve as a cover to justify abuses. Any amount obtained undeservedly or through abuse must be returned to the state, and those who have done wrong must be held accountable,” Maia Sandu concluded.

In mid-June, the Public Property Agency ordered an investigation at MoldATSA and suspended the exercise of duties by the company’s director, Dumitru Vangheli. The decision was taken after the institution launched an internal inquiry following information that appeared in the public space regarding the legality and authenticity of the documents submitted in the competition file of the director, Dumitru Vangheli, as well as other aspects concerning managerial activity within the enterprise.

A few days later, Dumitru Vangheli was dismissed by the Public Property Agency. Subsequently, Radu Marian resigned from his position as chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Economy, Budget and Finance, and Roman Cojuhari announced his resignation from the leadership of the Public Property Agency.