{"id":6562,"date":"2021-03-08T20:09:46","date_gmt":"2021-03-08T18:09:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zdg.md\/en\/?p=6562"},"modified":"2021-03-09T14:52:07","modified_gmt":"2021-03-09T12:52:07","slug":"behind-the-scenes-of-japanese-agricultural-investments-emails-interests-and-affiliated-companies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zdg.md\/en\/behind-the-scenes-of-japanese-agricultural-investments-emails-interests-and-affiliated-companies\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind the Scenes of Japanese Agricultural Investments: Emails, Interests, and Affiliated Companies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

ZdG analyzed a series of official emails between the former Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and the former Ambassador of Moldova to Japan. The correspondence reveals interests of more than half a million euros on the consultancy contract for the Japanese loan worth $18.7 million, signed by authorities in mid-February 2021.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Discussions between the two officials show that the Ministry’s representative was against appointing the ambassador’s son-in-law as a local adviser for the loan implementation, which dissatisfied the ambassador. The stakes of these discussions were enormous – over half a million euros.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Agency for Agricultural Development and Modernization<\/strong> manages the Japanese loan that caused the tough exchanges of emails between the two officials. Moreover, the former ambassador of Moldova to Japan<\/strong><\/strong> held, off and on, the position of director in the last two decades <\/strong>in this public institution<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On February 15, the Ministry of Agriculture and Japan International Cooperation System (JICS) signed a consultancy contract<\/a> to assist in the implementation of the loan granted to Moldova by the Government of Japan for the modernization of agricultural machinery and equipment. Consulting services will be provided to the Agency for Agricultural Development and Modernization (AADM), in order to capitalize on and effectively implement the preferential credit granted by the Japanese Agency for International Cooperation (JICA) to the Government of Moldova in the project “Modernization of agricultural machinery and equipment from Moldova\u201d(MAME project). The preferential credit agreement was signed in June 2020<\/a>, in Tokyo, by Vasile Bumacov, the Ambassador of Moldova to Japan, and Yamada Junichi, the First Vice President of JICA. The agreement stipulates that the Japanese government will provide a loan of about $18,7 million through JICA to facilitate farmers’ access to the purchase of agricultural machinery and post-harvest equipment. The loan will be granted for a period of 40 years, with an interest rate of 0.1% and a grace period of 12 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The signing of the consultancy contract by the Ministry of Agriculture and Japan International Cooperation System (JICS) in February 2021<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Ambassador Bumacov’s son-in-law is proposed as the local expert. The Ministry of Agriculture signals a potential conflict of interest.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ambassador Bumacov’s son-in-law Dan Prisacaru<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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According to the initial version of the consultancy contract from April 2020, sent by JICS to the Ministry of Agriculture, Dan Prisacaru, the son-in-law of the Moldovan ambassador to Japan, was selected as the specialist for this project. According to the document, the monthly contractual expenses related to Dan Prisacaru constituted 8,500 euros. In total, over six years of the contract, JICS costs for contracting Dan Prisacaru were to amount to 611,000 euros.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After JICS submitted the offer in which Dan Prisacaru appeared as a local consultant, the Ministry of Agriculture representatives signaled a possible conflict of interests, given that Prisacaru’s father-in-law, Ambassador Vasile Bumacov, was involved in this project from the beginning. After Minister Maxim Popov complained about a potential conflict of interest, Vasile Bumacov wrote him several emails in which he informed him about possible “legal problems” and accused him of “sabotaging the interests of the country and the farmers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The preferential credit agreement was signed in June 2020, in Tokyo, by Vasile Bumacov, the Ambassador of Moldova to Japan, and Yamada Junichi, the First Vice President of JICA<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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