TRM director contest revives questions over family appointments
The scandal over jobs for President Maia Sandu’s cousins had barely faded, pushed out of public view by a series of even more bruising events, when it emerged that Ecaterina Covali-Cheptănaru would become director of the public broadcaster Teleradio-Moldova (TRM).
The Supervisory Council of the public broadcaster approved Covali-Cheptănaru’s candidacy after the final interview and test, if that is still the right word for it. According to press reports, the new director general has many years of experience in journalism and media management. In 2025, she spent several months as deputy director general of TRMand oversaw the work of Moldova 1, before moving to the Association of Responsible Initiatives, where she coordinated a European fellowship programme for journalists.
The job is hardly a poorly paid one. The previous director general, Vlad Țurcanu, received 827,364 lei in 2025 alone almost 69,000 lei a month. In other words, another presidential cousin has been taken in at another comfortable public-sector feeding trough worth nearly 70,000 lei a month.
Two useful qualities for a ‘transparent’ winner
The “winner” of this “transparent contest” has two qualities that give her an undeniable advantage over any other candidate.
First, she is a highly talented member of Maia Sandu’s highly talented family, the same president who, as everyone remembers, learns about such matters from the press. By sheer coincidence, Ecaterina Covali-Cheptănaru is the head of state’s cousin.
Second, she spent many years feeding from Soros’s hand. As MP Olga Gydilika noted:
“Maia Sandu’s cousin Ecaterina Covali-Cheptănaru, who was today approved as director of Teleradio-Moldova, spent many years producing the author’s programme ‘Bridges to Europe’ with financial support from the Soros Foundation in Moldova!”
The ‘CADRE’ chat and public appointments
The most interesting part, however, is how the “contest” appears to have unfolded. Judging by the messages, PAS MPs discussed appointments to state institutions in a chat with the telling name CADRE. They did so even during parliamentary sittings. Screenshots of the exchange were sent to INDEX by a reader.
Among other things, PAS MPs discussed Ecaterina Covali-Cheptănaru’s candidacy for the top job at Teleradio-Moldova. When Radu Marian asked who Covali-Cheptănaru was, his party colleague Adrian Băluțel replied that she was a “good journalist”, had worked on European projects and had already been appointed head of television under PAS, but had later left “because of Țurcanu”.
“Do appointments in public institutions really go through open procedures, or are they first discussed inside PAS?” Bogdan Țîrdea asked.
Olga Gydilika also drew attention to the story.
“An honest contest or the ‘Cadres’ chat: how was the new director of Moldova’s public broadcaster chosen? Today, during a parliamentary sitting, correspondence was recorded in which MPs discussed the candidacy of the new director of the public broadcaster. The messages show Radu Marian asking who Ecaterina is. He is told that she is a journalist who worked on European projects. A little later, on the same day, the media reported that Ecaterina Covali-Cheptănaru had won a ‘transparent contest’ and taken the post of TRM director.”
She also recalled that the Information and Security Service (SIS) had been brought into the process to make sure the preferred candidate prevailed.
“To ensure that the Right Person won the contest, they even brought in the SIS, with powers to screen out undesirable candidates. Cousinocracy is here to stay. I wonder how soon Maia Sandu will learn about it from the press?”
Bogdan Țîrdea responded in his usual style.
“Thank God. We were beginning to worry. Honestly. P.S. Although she was hardly going hungry before she had already served as deputy director general of TRM.”
A seven-year mandate at Moldova’s public broadcaster
The post of head of Teleradio-Moldova became vacant in May 2026 after the early departure of the previous director, Vlad Țurcanu. He resigned amid public controversy over the national jury’s scores in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest. Professional experts awarded Romania only three points, while Moldovan viewers gave it the maximum 12.
The new director will receive a seven-year mandate that cannot be extended. Covali-Cheptănaru will take up her duties once the required procedures have been completed.
The TRM director contest therefore looks less like a clean appointment than another example of how public institutions are filled in today’s Moldova: first a party chat, then a “transparent” procedure, and finally a predictable result. Gagauznews summed it up in its own blunt style:
“Let us welcome the new Moldovan Goebbels!”
