At the meeting of the Interior Ministry’s Board on May 19, President Vladimir Voronin ordered that the number of traffic police officers be halved because the number of corruption cases among them is very high.

He said that the police officers that will continue working and the new ones should take additional tests. The traffic police employees that commit corruption acts will be dismissed. If the situation does not improve, there will be taken radical measures that will affect all the Interior Ministry’s employees.

The President also demanded that the head of the Interior Ministry’s General Public Order Division, Mihai Cebotaru be discharged because he is suspected of asking US$3,000 for employing a person in the police bodies. Cebotaru denied the accusations, describing them as disinformation. ”I will have to defend my rights as any other citizen,” Cebotaru said.

According to Vladimir Voronin, most often the traffic police officers illegally tax the passenger and goods carriers and taxi drivers and falsify the reports with the aim of appropriating the fines. Irregularities are also committed when employing and testing the police officers and when issuing driver’s licenses. Such services “cost” 1,000 to 3,000 euros, while the taxes for the yearly certification of the policemen amount to 250-300 USD.

“Taxes of 20-50 euros are levied on the drivers that convey parcels from the Moldovans working abroad. Such cases were reported in Hancesti, Cahul and Balti,” Vladimir Voronin said.

The head of state ordered the investigation of all the mentioned cases involving traffic police officers and the dismissal of all the policemen to blame according to the legislation. He said he would monitor the traffic police subdivisions and will be merciless with those that use the power for personal interests and to the detriment of the state and the population.

For his part, the Deputy Minister of the Interior Valentin Zubic told the reporters that the measures could be even more drastic. He said that one of the causes of corruption among policemen is their low level of preparedness // Reporter.MD


Publication date: 19 May 2008   

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