HAPPENING THIS WEEK

Greetings from Chişinău! It’s been a long winter holiday period in Moldova, and ZdG has stayed busy. We start the year with an issue that features the luxurious vacations of our President and his family, who, while only recording yearly incomes of around 26,000 euros spend their vacations in resorts costing around 20,000 euros for just one night for one person. Also in this issue, ZdG reports our achievements for 2019 in terms of new subscribers and new ZdG products and platforms. We bring you a list of our best investigative articles that had an impact on society and which make ZdG’s brand: an enemy to corruption and an ally to justice. All of that and more in this week’s newsletter. Happy reading!  

THIS WEEK’S FEATURE

LUXURIOUS VACATIONS: During the last 15 years, Moldova’s President Igor Dodon officially earned money only from public service. Nevertheless, Dodon has taken vacations in exotic places. His family went on holidays in some of the most luxurious places in the world such as the Maldives, Seychelles, Dubai, as well as an exclusive villa on the territory of one of the most luxurious hotels on the Aegean coast, a resort managed by the family of Iurii Chaika, the former Prosecutor General of Russia. ZdG has got hold of information and photos about a series of luxurious vacations that the Dodon family has enjoyed over the last decade. Although in recent years the presidential family declared a yearly income of around 26,000 euros they spent their vacations in luxurious resorts where the accommodation for only one night reaches around 20,000 euros. 

FROM THE EDITORS

ELECTORAL PROMISES: At the end of 2019, President Igor Dodon promised that Moldovans’ wages, pensions and allowances will increase and we will be better off in 2020. ZdG asked the experts to give a short forecast on Moldova’s future in 2020. The experts were very skeptical, all of them claimed that in 2020 nothing will change and Moldovans will not be better off. The economic situation will get worse and people will keep fleeing the country while the birth rate will continue decreasing. The 2020 is especially important since it’s an electoral year when Moldovans all over the world will elect their president. In 2020 it’s time to assess how those that we’ve elected managed to complete what they’ve promised three years ago and make our decision based on this assessment rather than the utopical promises of reviving the Soviet Union. 

THE FOREIGN BRIEF

VISITS IN REVIEW: In 2019 the President made nine visits to Russia, one to the United States and two visits to the European Union (E.U.). The former government led by the then Prime Minister Pavel Filip managed to make in its last five months one visit to Romania and another in the European Union. The Government led by Maia Sandu, invested in June 2019, made around six visits to E.U. countries three of which were to Brussels and one to Bucharest. Maia Sandu also had an official visit in Ukraine and one in the United States. The third government of the year, a so-called technocratic government led by Ion Chicu, made three visits in E.U. countries, one in Russia and one in Ukraine. The relations with the E.U. grew stronger once the Maia Sandu government took office in June 2019. Currently, some of the E.U. members are skeptical about the so-called technocratic government commitments towards making reforms. The relations with Russia grew stronger and solidified in the latter part of the year. The relations with Turkey and China are also growing stronger, with more visits from Chinese officials and companies and Turkish officials and diplomats. 

Also in 2019, several high-ranked officials visited Moldova, Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sergey Lavrov, whose last visit to Moldova was in 2009, the then National Presidential U.S. Security Adviser, John Bolton, and Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. 

After freezing the financial assistance in 2018, the E.U. thawed it in July weeks after the Maia Sandu government took the office. Since July 2019, the E.U. offered more than €70 million financial assistance to Moldova, the International Monetary Fund offered Moldova a three-year loan worth $46 million, and although Russia promised in November 2019, a $500 million loan, the money is yet to reach the country.  

ZDG TOP INVESTIGATIONS

ZdG wrote about All the (Moldovan) President’s Men, an investigation featuring all the people close to the presidential couple who managed to secure businesses and assets worth millions along with President’s Dodon ascension to power. The investigation drew the President’s attention and was followed by an interdiction for ZdG to attend one of the events organized for journalists by the Presidency, but ZdG continued investigating and looked into the luxurious vacations of Moldova’s president, who recording modest incomes was spending his vacation in the most luxurious corners of the world. 

One of ZdG’s investigation’s published three years ago, about Supreme Court judge Oleg Sternioală, who lived in an undeclared luxury house registered in the name of his retired parents, came into the attention of the law enforcement institutions only this year. The authorities initiated a criminal case and although prosecutors have determined that the judge purchased the property with illegal money, and that, in recent years, the Sternioală family reported smaller revenues compared to the acquired goods, the Court took the judge’s side, stopping the criminal investigation against him. Although the Parliament approved his resignation in December, there is not a final conclusion for his case, and ZdG will continue following it. 

ZdG wrote about the most prominent cases in the first 100 Days of the government led by Maia Sandu. In the hundred days that have passed since the Socialist Party–ACUM Bloc Government took power in June, Moldova has seen three different prosecutor generals. What’s more, the Prosecutor General’s Office has initiated a number of high-profile criminal cases. These cases cover everything from money laundering to illegal phone tapping; from bank fraud to the usurpation of state power, but the fate of those involved has yet to be determined. 

In April 2019, ZdG wrote about the beggars in Chișinău who simulated serious health problems. This material reached over half a million views becoming one of the most popular ZdG materials. At first glance, they seemed seriously ill, but they were healthy in reality. Some of the beggars were moving tirelessly on crutches or using wheelchairs. Others were displaying their “prostheses” to impress. To be even more convincing, beggars invoked God’s name and used icons. When ZdG tried to talk to them, most of them became violent and used vulgar language. After the ZdG revealed the rattles that some beggars appeal to, some of them disappeared from the streets of Chisinau, their place being taken by others, who, likewise, pretended to be sick to make money. 

ZDG IN THE WORLD NEWS

During this year ZdG was quoted by different media outlets, among them also are our partners. ZdG was quoted by Hromadske International, a media outlet focused on explaining the events taking place in Eastern Europe. Hromadske re-published several articles from ZdG related to the wrecked country’s prison system, the change of government in November 2019, ZdG’s story to the constituencies of Vladimir Plahotniuc, former leader of the Democratic Party and Ilan Shor, former mayor in Orhei, both involved in the theft of the century, and many other articles. When the former Prime Minister Vlad Filat was released from prison ZdG was the first to speak with Filat and write about it, subsequently, ZdG was quoted by BalkanInsight in one of its articles about the former Prime Minister Filat.   

SPOTTED THIS WEEK

ZDG’S COMMUNITY: In 2020, ZdG reached 10,101 subscribers for the printed edition and a circulation of 10,938 copies, a significant increase of 44 percent in subscribers compared to the same period of the last year. ZdG newsroom thanks to our entire community of readers and each individual subscriber. We appreciate the dedication of our subscribers, many of whom have been with us for years, and we warmly greet the new members of the ZdG community. We promise that we will endeavor to have a newspaper as interesting as possible, with well-documented material on topics of maximum public interest.

ZdG is member of several associations and organizations, such as the Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN), which includes around 200 teams of reporters from 75 countries, the South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), the Independent Press Association in Moldova (API), which in turn is a member of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN). 

And while investigative journalism generates much public interest, it doesn’t bring equal revenue sources to sustain itself.  ZdG thanks its development partners for their great support for independent media. Recently, ZdG has benefited from the support of international organizations counting: Internews Moldova, Free Press Unlimited, Canadian Embassy in Bucharest, Netherlands Embassy in Bucharest, U.S. Embassy in Chisinau, the Ministry for Romanians abroad of the Romanian Government, Freedom House, Open Society Foundations, IREX.