President Igor Dodon admits that he spends his weekends at the Sadova Resort but he denies that the resort belongs to him. Dodon claims that the resort will be open to the villagers in the future.

During the Fourth Power, a TV show on N4, Dodon was asked about the Sadova Resort. Previously, a resident of the Sadova village, Călărași district, the center of Moldova,  stated that the Sadova Resort (located in the same village) belongs to Dodon. The resident also mentioned that Dodon spends his holidays there, and the area is surrounded by the State Protection and Guard Service agents. 

The resident also highlighted that all the roads were destroyed due to the massive works related to the resort. Moreover, the residents of the village can no longer visit the resort, where they used to go to play football, basketball or visit a mini-zoo that was there.

Dodon acknowledged that the roads were damaged, but assured that they would be repaired under the Good Roads program.

“Regarding the assets that belong to me and are not declared, I do not violate the law. If anyone finds these assets, let them take these assets. 

At a certain stage, an investor, who is an acquaintance of mine, came and took over the resort. This investor is doing good things for the village. The resort will open in the future. 

When I come to the village, I don’t just go to my mother in the village. On Sunday, I went to see the road that goes to Călărași, which passes by Prime Minister Ion Chicu’s village. 

I went to the Town Hall. We have a very good mayor. I went to the cemetery. I go to my father’s grave, and by the way, the fence there was made with my and the Sadova citizens’ support,” said Dodon.

In November 2016, ZdG wrote about the interests of those close to Dodon at the Sadovo resort, located in an ecologically clean and picturesque area of ​​Codrilor, the center of Moldova, about 3 km from the center of Sadova village, the native town of Igor Dodon.

In July 2015, Chester Business, a company registered in the United Kingdom purchased the property which covers an area of ​​over 11 ha. Specifically, the British company took over the Sadovo Resort, which owned the entire property, and Mihail Porubin, a close relative of President Dodon, was installed as administrator. 

On the eve of the 2016 presidential elections, the renovation of the resort was in progress. ZdG wrote that the manager was the president’s brother-in-law, Ghenadie Merineanu.

In the meantime, the renovation of the rest base has been completed, and people in the village say that Dodon is spending all his free weekends in this location. Although officially, the manager of the company that owns the resort is Mihail Porubin, de facto, it is managed by a resident of the village. 

In 2016, when ZdG revealed that the president’s men are involved in repairs at the Sadova resort, Dodon said that at the resort is an investor from Russia, who decided to buy it after someone wanted to sell it a year or two ago. 

The documents related to the 2015 transaction show that the price paid by the company registered in the U.K. was around 79,000 euros (1.52 million lei). The price also included the debts that the former owners had, amounting to around 365,000 euros (7 million lei). 

The documents consulted by ZdG showed that the English Chester Business company, founded by two companies from Belize, has as beneficiary Vadim Ciubara, the man behind a company in the Socialist Party-affiliated media domain. 

ZdG found that the English company was represented in Moldova by a Russian citizen, Iaroslav Țurcan, who is from Dubăsari, and studied at Moldova State University, and speaks Romanian.

• All the (Moldovan) President’s Men