After a few years of working in Italy, Pavel Malic from Zubrești, Strășeni (former judet Chișinău) returned in July of this year with his wife home, to work some more on their household. Their joy of seeing again their motherland and relatives turned in a few days into a real nightmare.
Shortly after their arrival, a car stopped by their house. Four unknown individuals summoned the head of the family to get into the car, after which they drove into an unknown direction. Pavel Malic was taken to village Bașcalia, Basarabeasca (former judet Lăpușna), the native village of the Prime Minister Vasile Tarlev, where he was locked in a basement. Those who kidnapped him claimed from him an amount of money which he allegedly had taken from Ion Tarlev, from Bașcalia, with whom Malic had traveled from Italy to Moldova. Ion Tarlev was the driver of a microbus who was making round trips from Italy to Moldova, transporting the luggage of the Moldovans working there. We do not know whether Ion Tarlev is a relative of the prime minister, because in Bașcalia, as we found out, the surname Tarlev is widely spread. According to a version, near the Moldovan customs, Ion Tarlev, who had a large amount of money, divided it between the two passengers - Pavel and his wife in order not to pay customs duties. Once Tarlev arrived at home, he found that some money was missing from that amount. He thought immediately about the two passengers. It seemed strange to him that they got off in Cahul, and not in Comrat, where they could more easily have caught something to Strășeni.
He told the story to his gang in the village. Its leader, Vasile Tarlev, agreed at once to help his fellow-villager get his money back. Another version is that Ion told them with whom he had traveled from Italy and his friends thought it was not a bad idea to enrich themselves on the account of those people. The prime ministers namesake is known in Bașcalia for his pranks. As we found out, he is the prime ministers nephew from a cousin. On the following day, those two, with other two villagers, drove to Zubrești where they found Pavel Malic with no problems whatsoever. They forced him into the car and brought him to Bașcalia. They beat him heavily asking back from him those several thousand dollars. We suppose that Malic tried to tell them that he had not taken the money and could not return it. On the following day, Malic promised to give them the requested amount. But they were not satisfied with that. They told him to call his relatives in Italy for them to send money to a certain account. He called to Italy from Vasile Tarlevs telephone. In two days, the money arrived from Italy EURO 1,300, on Vasile Tarlevs account, which he took from the bank. Malic was kept locked between 19 and 21 July, in the house basement of an aunt of Pavel Bolun, one of the four accomplices. He was freed only giving them all the money they had requested.
Prime Minister exerts pressure on the investigations
Pavels wife, frightened by her husbands kidnapping, announced the police. The wrongdoers were found in a few days. Vasile and Ion Tarlev were arrested, and the fourth guy was announced in general search. But as usually happens in our country when the relatives of some highly placed officers risk to get behind the bars, a fuss began around the case. From trustworthy sources we found out that the Prime Minister Tarlev requested law-enforcement officers to do their best to cover that wrongdoing and get his nephew out clean. Thus, pressures started to be exerted on the investigators and judges to dismiss the case. It is not excluded that, before being dismissed, the case will be handed over from one investigator to another. This procedure is used when it is desired to minimize the degree of guiltiness of the investigated person. That is, this is how documents and evidence get lost so that it is found, in the end, that there is no evidence and the case is dismissed.
After 20 days of detention, the court set Vasile Tarlev free, but extended the warrant for Ion Tarlev. Ion Tarlevs lawyer was surprised that one of the two, and namely, the one who was more seriously involved in the case, was freed, while the other one was further being kept locked up. He made a request to the court in which he explained the situation and requested that his client be freed. In the end, the court satisfied his request.
MIA refuses to talk
We tried to find out details about this case at the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Initially, we requested information about other cases that were being investigated on, which we received with no difficulties. But when we tried to find out about Vasile Tarlevs case, the police officers were sending us from one to another. The officer investigating the case of Vasile and Ion Tarlev, Vadim Mariinciuc, did not want to speak with us, telling us to ask his bosss permission, although he did not deny the existence of the respective case.
We called the head of the criminal investigation division within MIA, Victor Petrache. He refused to speak with us and brutally hung up immediately after hearing what case we were inquiring about. And because MIA officials were not willing to respond, although, according to the legislation, they must provide us the requested information, we tried to find out about the fate of this case from other sources. According to these other sources, the case on Pavel Malics kidnapping and sequestration was initiated at his wifes request. The case started out but as soon as pressures began to be exerted, the mentioned MIA division began working on its dismissal.
Police hides the traces
API sources also said that Pavel Malic had been contacted by law-enforcement representatives who told him to go quickly back to Italy. At the same time, his attention was drawn to the fact that if he continued to look for justice, he would get into big trouble. He was told that he would get back all his money but he had to leave the country as soon as possible.
Pavels father and father-in-law also confirmed that he left sooner than he had initially intended. Pavels father, Gheorghe Malic, said that he did not know anything about that case. He remembered that last summer, shortly after he returned from Italy, his son came one day all in bruises. It was clear that he had been beaten. He asked him what had happened and Pavel answered that he had fallen from the bicycle. I did not understand why he lied to me because it was clear that he could not be covered by bruises only from falling down from the bicycle, Gheorghe said. When we parted, he remembered that after his son left for Italy, the sector police officer came by and asked if Pavel had really left. That seemed strange to him because he did not know his son to have ever had any problems with the police. Malics father-in-law, Tudor Popa, confirmed that on 19 July of this year, his son-in-law was taken by some individuals to an unknown place. He came back three days later full of bruises. He did not tell his parents in law the reason for his disappearance, or that of the bruises. He only returned very quickly to Italy, although initially he intended to stay at home longer, Tudor Popa said.
As we found out, the police recovered from Vasile Tarlev the money misappropriated from Pavel Malic. The amount of EURO 1,300 was transmitted through Pavel Bolun, one of sequestration participants, who gave it to a cousin of Pavel, who signed on spot a receipt that did not have any claims to the misappropriators. At least two things seem strange in this case: why, after 20 days of detention, the court frees Vasile Tarlev and extends the warrant for Ion Tarlev, although based on the existing evidence it was proved that the formers guilt was higher?; why did the police who was investigating the case let Malic leave for Italy, if the investigations had not ended, and Malic was the one who denounced the four individuals?
The investigators were sure that Malic would go back to Italy, since they asked to whom they should give the money taken from the misappropriators. The assumption that the police exerted pressure on him to leave quickly the country is confirmed here. Put together, more details give shape to the plan for the dismissal of the case. The investigations will not go further in Malics absence. The returned money will not be able to serve as evidence. In the end, the case will be dismissed for lack of evidence. As we can see, the police made sure to clean the traces of the crime committed by the prime ministers nephew as quickly as they could, so that he, although suspected of human sequestration, commitment of corporal injuries and misappropriation, did not get behind the bars. This explains the veil of silence that has fallen on the case.
Papuc plays too hard
Vasile Tarlevs case is not the only case in which the prime minister attempts to protect his relatives. Another case, as interesting, took place last year. A car and MDL 24,000 were stolen from the Bașcalia petrol station, which belonged to the prime ministers brother, Petru Tarlev, the current mayor of Bașcalia. The stations owner either complained about it to the prime minister, or asked his help, but shortly after a platoon of policemen descended in Bașcalia. According to the witnesses, 60 people were arrested, some of them were kept 24 hours shut. None of the detainees got away without being beaten. As we managed to find out, the current Minister of Internal Affairs, Gheorghe Papuc was at that time just appointed into office and if the prime minister had asked him to check on that case, he did his best to prove his fidelity.
We called the mayor of Bașcalia, Petru Tarlev. He told us that the petrol station belonged to him until recently but now it has another owner. Tarlev confirmed that a robbery occurred last year at the station and that the culprits were found. As to the methods used by the policemen, he said that the villagers that narrated the case probably exaggerated because everything was done according to the law. And after all, he was not responsible for the polices actions. The culprits, according to the mayor of Bașcalia, happened to be from the neighboring village.
In the end, we would like to ask the prime minister Tarlev, freshly elected in front of an anticorruption commission: why are MIA officers afraid to talk when they hear about the Tarlev case and why his nephew, who sequestered and misappropriated a person, is still free?