Former Anenii Noi district chairman Sergei Rapcea was detained on Thursday, 3rd of November by National Anti-Corruption Centre (CNA) officers and anti-corruption prosecutors in an influence-peddling case. He is suspected of organising the rigging of tenders for his own benefit, the CNA announced. As a result, the former chairman of Anenii Noi district was detained for 72 hours.

According to the materials of the case, in 2018-2019, Serghei Rapcea, being in the position of chairman of the rayon and exerting influence on subordinates, allegedly initiated public tenders for construction and repairs in some public institutions.

“Pursuing a personal goal and being in a conflict of interest, the former chairman of Anenii Noi district allegedly favoured a number of companies and economic agents, whose beneficial owner he is, without ensuring competition equal and non-discriminatory treatment of the other participants in the tenders,” a CNA statement said.

District president rented bus from company in which he is a shareholder “without the intention of getting rich”

Ziarul de Gardă wrote in 2020 that Serghei Rapcea, while serving as chairman of the Anenii Noi district, violated the legal regime of conflicts of interest after signing several contracts with entities in which he owns shares. These are Cristranscom SRL, Cristehtrans SRL, Transpremium SRL.

During the inspection, it was established that Serghei Rapcea, in his capacity as district president, signed a contract with SRL Cristehtrans, a company in which he holds a share, for transport services in the amount of 6 000 lei, while other contracts were not identified. He said that he had concluded the contract because there were only two transport agents in Anenii Noi, Biotrans and Cristehtrans. According to Rapcea, at the time of requesting a means of transport from Biotrans SRL, the company was unable to offer one, and when requesting transport from Chisinau, the price asked was 8 500 lei. Thus, in order to pay less, Rapcea decided to request a bus from Cristehtrans Ltd, “without the intention of getting rich”, as he commented.

In the end, Serghei Rapcea was found guilty and was deprived of the right to hold public office or public dignity, with the exception of electoral office, for a period of three years.

In the 2019 general local elections, Serghei Rapcea ran for mayor of Anenii Noi on the list of the Democratic Party of Moldova, obtaining 30.60% of the vote in the first round of the elections. According to his declaration of personal assets and interests for last year, Rapcea had an income of about 50 thousand lei from the Anenii Noi District Council. Another 76 thousand lei he got from Cristranscom Ltd., Cristehtrans Ltd., Transpremium Ltd. and 90 thousand lei from Sandina Service Ltd.