Land Hunters COPYRIGHT HOLDER: Victor Mosneag / OPEN Media Hub
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STORY NAME: Land hunters COPYRIGHT HOLDER: Victor Mosneag / OPEN Media Hub COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Ownership of content belongs to Victor Mosneag / OPEN Media Hub USAGE TERMS: Share & Adapt - Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecoMMons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ EDITOR’S NOTES: N/A SOURCE: Ziarul de Garda - https://www.zdg.Md/editia-print/investigatii/video-vanatorii-de- terenuri Open Media Hub – http://www.openmediahub.com “This production was supported by OPEN Media Hub with funds provided by the European Union” LANGUAGE: Romanian DURATION: 47:17 JOURNALIST: Victor Mosneag EMAIL: [email protected] SLUGLINE: The public land fraud scheMe. The actors HEADLINE: Over the past 5 years the Municipality was defrauded of over 30 parcels of land with a market value of more than 5 million euros. We found out that some of these lands went to gas stations property, others went to soMe building coMpanies and soMe offshore companies from Great Britain or Marshall islands. Some parcels of land are now sold for hundreds of thousands of Euros. DATELINE: Chisinau, Moldova - 19/09/2018 SCRIPT: 0.00 - 0.52 - VO Over the past 5 years, lawyers, bailiffs, judges, businessMen, as well as civil servants, defrauded Chisinau of over 30 parcels of land covering a total area of over 5,5 hectares (592015,07 square feet) with a Market value of More than 100 Million MDL (moldovan lei) / 5,16 Million euros. We Made an investigation to deterMine who the people in charge of this scheMe are and where the land went to. We found out that soMe of these lands went to gas stations property, others went to soMe building coMpanies and some offshore companies from Great Britain or Marshall islands from the Pacific Ocean. SoMe parcels of land are now sold for hundreds of thousands of Euros, although they were obtained for a price of over 20 tiMes lower than that. Title: Land hunters 1.01 - 1.24 - VO 1 The public land fraud scheMe started in 2013 and was carried out through an unknown Public Association called „Cuvantul de Onoare” (Word of Honour). Although the association’s known goal was “to consolidate and develop civil society systeM”, its board consisted of a number of self-interested entrepreneurs working in the construction field. 1.27 - 1.45 - VO The Association subMitted a deMand to the Chisinau Mayor’s Office for renting a piece of land at Nadejda Russo-Renasterii Nationale Avenue crossroads for a period of 10 years. The Association wanted to place its headquarters there and a canteen for underprivileged persons. 1.45 - 2.12 - VO Since the Association’s deMand was rejected, it put the Mayor’s Office and the City Council to trial. At the court, the association changed its requireMents. They asked to conduct public sales on renting out or selling parcels of land in Chisinau free of any third party objections and claiMs. At the trial, the Association was represented by the 33-year-old lawyer, Sergiu Gotonoga. 2.12 - 2.33 - VO On October 1, 2013, „Cuvantul de Onoare” gets a verdict signed by judge Iurie Turcan froM Rascani Court of Chisinau. The paper obligated the authorities to conduct public public sales on renting out, leasing or selling public land froM Chisinau. 2.33 - 3.14 - VO The Association asks for the support of the bailiff Nicolae Pasa to apply the conclusion of the court. In DeceMber 2013, the bailiff files a deMand to the court to ask for an explanation regarding the procedure of execution of the judge’s sentence. On DeceMber 19, the note was accepted. Another explanatory conclusion was issued according to which if the public authorities do not conduct public sales, the verdict can be executed by a bailiff, while the lands that had to be sold can be selected by the creditor – the person who had asked the local authorities for the rent of the land. 3.14 - 3.30 - VO In January 2014, judge Iurie Turcan quit his job and left the judicial systeM. The state paid hiM the allowance of 162 thousand MDL. His sentences becaMe unappealable and enforceable. 3.31 - 3.50 - VO In March 2014, the bailiff Nicolae Pasa gave the right to „Cuvantul de onoare” Association to select a enterprise that would identify the parcels of land for auction. But soon, he gave up this case. 3.50 - 4.12 - Interview Nicolae Pasa, bailiff: “I did not give up the dossier. This dossier, better say, the execution procedure, was changed at the creditor’s request. The creditor had the right to decide on what bailiff to execute it in the future. The dossier was transferred by the creditor to another colleague of Mine, I don’t really reMeMber who that was. The 2 creditor followed the principle of availability”. 4.13 - 4.27 - VO Thus, the dossier reaches another bailiff - Nicolae Nicolaescu. He refused to give a caMera interview. He only told us that he had also given up to this dossier since it looked suspicious to him. 4.27 - 4.34 - VO At the end, the dossier reached the bailiff Evelina Marianciuc, who started applying the fraud scheMe. First Public Sale 4.41 - 5.15 - VO At the beginning, the Public Association „Cuvantul de Onoare” identified a nuMber of parcels of land and engaged in this process the Real Estate Agency „Acona IMobil”. „Acona IMobil”, which had the office situated in Codru hotel from Chisinau, fixed a norMative price of the lands ten tiMes lower than their Market value. In 2016, the Licensing ChaMber withdrew the license of assessor Oleg Bostan, who took care of the land fraud dossier, because of having conducted suspicious assessMent of land value. 5.15 - 5.24 - Interview (telephone) Oleg Bostan, assessor, Acona IMobil: - I don’t want to talk about that with you. - Could we Meet? - I don’t want to Meet with you. That’s all. Good bye! - Could you tell us why you fixed such a low price for those parcels of land? - Good bye! 5.24 - 5.49 - VO Having at her disposal the land and the prices, the bailiff Evelina Marianciuc conducted the first public sale, replacing the local public authorities. On July 18, 2014, she announced about a public sale of three parcels of land in Chisinau, placed on the area between DiMo and Kiev streets, Rascani district, as well as on Dacia Avenue froM the centre of the capital city. 5.50 - 6.31 - VO The announceMent on the public sale was published in a religious newspaper with only one thousand copies - „Ziarul Liber”. Only two coMpanies participated at the public sale announced by Evelina Marianciuc: „Sergconstruct Lux” and „Valeria Stroi”. „Cuvantul de Onoare” Association, which this case started froM, did not participate. The public sale was held on August 7, 2014. According to the results, a parcel was won by „Valeria Stroi”, the other two – by „Sergconstruct Lux”. Both coMpanies are founded on August 5, 2014, two days before the date of the auction. 3 6.32 - 6.48 - VO „Valeria Stroi” was founded by Valeria Savina, who had opened other four coMpanies at the end of the 90s, which are currently not active anyMore. A Man answered at her cell phone. He already knew what Media institution we were calling froM and asked us not to call her anyMore. 6.49 - 7.06 - Interview (through telephone) Valeria Savina’s phone: - Who is this? - I aM Victor, journalist. - Are you froM Ziarul de Garda? - Yes, froM Ziarul de Garda. - How can I help you, Mr. journalist? - Where do you know froM I aM working for Ziarul de Garda? - Because only you, two idiots, are calling Me. - What do we do? - Leave it, good bye! 7.08 - 7.29 - VO „Sergconstruct Lux” has the Mail address: Siretului Street, Cojusna village, Straseni district. The enterprise was founded by a young Man froM the village, Sergiu Boscaneanu. He refused to speak officially about his involveMent in the Chisinau land fraud scheMe. A Month after the public sale had been held, Boscaneanu sold the enterprise to a woMan froM Chisinau. 7.30 - 8.12 - Interview (hidden caMera) Sergiu Boscaneanu, forMer owner of „Sergconstruct Lux”: - Where did you know froM about that public sale? - I bought soMe parcels of land in Cojusna too. I Mean I follow this issue. And I’ve concluded that Chisinau is not for Me so I got rid of all that. - Did anyone tell you… for Me to understand. - No. - That this public sale did not… the public sale was announced… - It is usually published in the Official Monitor. - It was not published in the Official Monitor. - It was not? - It was published in a newspaper… - In a newspaper, yes, yes! - Did you buy that newspaper? - I regularly follow it. - But it was a newspaper… no, it was Makler or… it was a religious newspaper. - I always follow, even in Cojusna when.. soMething that interested Me, I would follow all the tiMe. 8.15 - 8.56 - VO After the public sale, Evelina Marianciuc addressed to Botanica Court in Chisinau to ask for the confirMation of the results. Although “Cuvantul de Onoare” Association did not participate in the public sale, it was present at the auction validation process. The entity was represented by lawyer Sergiu Gotonoga, who asked the judge to oblige 4 Chisinau Cadastral Municipality to record the land on the new owners’ naMe. Judge Stelian Teleuca accepts the deMand motivating that there were no irregularities detected in the public sale procedure. Thus, the 3 parcels of land were handed over to private ownership.