OREANDA-NEWS. November 19, 2012. As taking part in the roundtable discussion on matters of trade barriers between Moldova and Russia, Russian importers of Moldovan fruit and vegetable products declared that the supply from Moldova is monopolized by Minister Vasile Bumacov and his “partner in crime”, a Leonid Coca. According to them, as Moldovan companies apply to the Ministry of Agriculture for obtaining phyto-sanitary certificates, they face purposefully created administrative obstacles which restrict the export.

“The certificates are issued to the companies which supply their products to a certain Russian company, namely Vektor. In the rest cases three specialists on phyto-sanitary certification in Moldova, referring to various defects, refuse issuing the documents", Russian businessmen say. According to them, their Moldovan partners do not want to raise this issue because first attempts to look into the problem had failed; settlement accounts of the companies had been blocked and the companies themselves had undergone fiscal checkups.

“The matter concerns the high-level corruption and monopolization of the market. Local companies fear to raise this qproblem, but it has to be solved”, Russian businessmen said. Deputy Economy Minister Octavian Calmic said a working group had been created to investigate this situation, which would also be considered at the sitting of the Moldovan-Russian Intergovernmental commission.