Former Prime Minister Vlad Filat has revealed new details about the final days of Alexandru Munteanu’s premiership, shedding light on the controversial rise of Polaris — an airline with no aircraft, a questionable legal address, but allegedly well-connected to influential figures.
Speaking on the program Free Opinion, Filat once again addressed allegations linking former Prime Minister Dorin Recean to Polaris, claims that Recean has categorically denied. Filat also described what he called one of Munteanu’s final political moves before leaving office.
According to Filat, the cancellation of the operating license for Polaris Aviation Group was among the outgoing prime minister’s last decisions.
“The license granted to Polaris, the airline everyone has been talking about, was revoked. This was done on Munteanu’s personal instructions. They were supposed to receive the license last week,” Filat said.
He also claimed that, on Munteanu’s orders, the competition for the position of CEO of Moldtelecom was abruptly suspended. Filat pointed to growing tensions within government circles, citing the official ceremony commemorating the victims of Soviet deportations, where Munteanu was reportedly excluded from official protocol.
“They publicly demonstrated their attitude toward him. Yesterday he still had no intention of stepping down as acting prime minister, but apparently he simply couldn’t continue,” Filat added.
Meanwhile, civic activist Vlad Bilețchi has launched his own investigation. He says he is documenting the Polaris case and intends to seek answers regarding the company’s alleged ties to Dorin Recean.
“We are following the trail of Polaris. We want to ask several questions about its alleged connections to Dorin Recean and find out whether the company managed to obtain a favorable opinion from the Council for the Examination of Investments Significant to State Security (CEIISS). We are also interested in how certain people from the aviation sector, poker players, or amateur cryptocurrency traders suddenly acquired millions of euros to launch an airline,” Bilețchi wrote.
He also said he had located the company’s original registered address, only to discover it was fictitious, before identifying another office.
“We found the company’s first address, but it turned out to be fake. Later we located another office. In both places we left our phone number and asked them to contact us. Nobody ever did,” the activist noted.
According to the business registry, Polaris Aviation Group SRL was incorporated on January 2, 2026. The company’s administrator is Guram Gvedashvili, while its shareholders are Anatolie Damașchin (50%), Marcel Răducan (25%), and Guram Gvedashvili (25%).
Earlier, National Moldovan Party leader Dragoș Galbur alleged that the real figures behind the company were Dorin Recean and Marcel Răducan.
“I know firsthand about Dorin Recean’s ambitions—another person who continues misleading Moldovans. Together with his longtime associate Marcel Răducan, dating back to the Filat and Leancă governments in 2012–2013, they are behind this project. It’s no longer a secret that they are the people behind Polaris,” Galbur said in an interview.
At the same time Polaris was awaiting its operating license, the Council for the Examination of Investments Significant to State Security (CEIISS) ordered the owners of another airline, FlyOne, to sell their shares within 90 days. Shortly afterward, critics accused the authorities of favoring Polaris as a new player in the aviation market.
Unlike Polaris, FlyOne already possessed both aircraft and a legitimate registered address, suggesting it was an operational airline rather than a newly created entity.
Galbur argues that the pressure on FlyOne is no coincidence but part of a deliberate strategy to seize control of Moldova’s aviation market. He also suggested there was a political motive behind the campaign.
“You cannot operate an airline in Moldova without political backing. At the same time, through highly questionable government mechanisms, another airline is being targeted. In politics there are no coincidences. We are talking about FlyOne, whose management includes Vladimir Cebotari, a close associate of oligarch Vlad Plahotniuc. Everything is perfectly clear,” Galbur stated.
With Munteanu’s departure from office, the controversy surrounding Polaris has once again resurfaced, raising renewed questions about alleged high-level connections, fictitious company addresses, and decisions made behind closed doors.
