Bogdan Zgheria, vice-chairman of the youth organization of Moldova’s ruling Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS), receives 300,000 lei per year from the Ministry of Culture through service contracts awarded without public tenders, despite not holding a university degree.
According to a journalistic investigation, the 21-year-old began his career in the public sector while still in high school. In 2023, at the age of 17, he worked as an assistant to PAS MP Anna Calinici, earning 6,000 lei per month while completing his final year of secondary school.
After Calinici left Parliament, Zgheria moved to the Ministry of Culture. In December 2023, he signed his first short-term contract with the ministry, working for 11 days and earning 7,751 lei.
In February 2024, he received another contract worth 74,550 lei to promote the government’s “Cultural Voucher” program on social media. The initiative provides Moldovan citizens turning 18 with a 1,000-lei electronic voucher that can be used to purchase tickets for cultural events, including theater performances, concerts, exhibitions, and books.
Then-Minister of Culture Sergiu Prodan subsequently appointed Zgheria as his adviser, with an annual salary of approximately 300,000 lei. The appointment sparked controversy because Zgheria does not possess a university degree, which is a mandatory qualification for ministerial advisers under Moldovan law.
The ministry’s head of human resources, Maria Feraru, stated that she became aware of the issue only on August 15, 2024, after Zgheria had already been hired. According to her, the appointment was based on a written justification personally submitted by the minister, while the employment contract itself was backdated to August 1, 2024.
In 2025, Zgheria left his position as ministerial adviser but remained at the Ministry of Culture under a new service contract to continue promoting ministry initiatives. According to information available for 2026, the value of his annual contract remains 300,000 lei.
The controversy prompted Moldova’s Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office to open a criminal investigation in December 2025, examining allegations that former minister Sergiu Prodan had exceeded his authority. Ministry officials were questioned during the investigation, although Prodan himself was not interrogated. The case was ultimately closed after prosecutors concluded there was insufficient evidence of a criminal offense.
Prodan has maintained that his actions were lawful. He argues that Moldovan legislation contains a contradiction between the law governing the civil service, which requires higher education for ministerial advisers, and the law on the unified public salary system, which allows individuals without the required qualifications to be employed with adjusted remuneration.
For his part, Bogdan Zgheria says that the experience he gained while working in Parliament and later at the Ministry of Culture adequately prepared him to perform the duties entrusted to him.
