These remarks were made by Finance Minister Andrian Gavriliță during a scandal involving the strategic state-owned enterprise MOLDATSA, where a director was dismissed following a journalistic investigation and one of his former subordinates was found to have earned more than 120,000 lei per month.
The dismissal followed the publication of an investigation by Ziarul de Gardă (ZdG). At the center of the scandal was former MOLDATSA director Dumitru Vangheli, whose monthly income exceeded 110,000 lei. According to the investigation, Vangheli allegedly provided false information about his professional qualifications, claiming in his résumé that he had worked as a pilot for Air Canada.
The airline reportedly denied those claims in response to media inquiries, stating that it had no record of such an employee and that the aircraft types Vangheli claimed to have flown had never been part of its fleet. When questioned about the discrepancies, the official reportedly referred to “secret missions” that he could not disclose.
Further details regarding Vangheli’s personnel decisions later emerged. According to the investigation, six months after his appointment he hired his romantic partner at the enterprise, where she was later promoted. ZdG also reported that shortly after winning the competition for the director’s position, Vangheli donated 40,000 lei to the ruling PAS party.
The Public Property Agency subsequently launched an internal investigation and suspended Vangheli from his position. On June 22, he was officially dismissed due to what authorities described as a “loss of confidence” by the founder institution.
Additional reports later focused on Anastasia Taburceanu, who worked as MOLDATSA’s spokesperson. According to an investigation by Rise Moldova, she earned more than one million lei in less than a year at the strategic enterprise. In 2026, her monthly salary reportedly exceeded 120,000 lei—almost four times higher than the salary of President Maia Sandu, who is also her cousin.
Critics pointed to what they described as limited public communication activity during her tenure, noting that the company website had not been updated for an extended period and that only a handful of social media posts were published each month.
Taburceanu had previously served as spokesperson for former Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilița and later provided services to the government of Dorin Recean. According to Rise Moldova, part of her income was received as royalties from the Institute for Strategic Initiatives, headed by former MP Vadim Pistrinciuc.
Commenting on the controversy, Finance Minister Andrian Gavriliță defended the principle of higher salaries for senior officials and managers in the public sector. He announced plans to reform public-sector pay structures, arguing that competitive salaries are necessary to attract qualified professionals.
“We must strive for greater fairness, but we should not assume that reducing the salaries of ten or twenty people will bring significant improvements for everyone else. I would rather discuss how to increase incomes for more people than how to reduce them,” the minister said.
He added that although senior officials could potentially live on lower salaries, the state must ensure that public institutions are staffed by competent individuals.
“Competence costs money,” Gavriliță stated, noting that different countries have approached the issue in different ways.
The controversy has fueled broader public debate in Moldova over transparency, public-sector salaries, appointments to state enterprises, and allegations of favoritism involving individuals connected to political elites.
