Deputies investigate missing fund (310 words)

Published: 11/28/2000

The potential sale of Moldova's remaining 6 MiG-29s has resurrected the debate surrounding the much publicized sale of 21 MiG-29s by Moldova to the US in 1997. The aircraft bought by the US authorities as part of an effort to keep the aircraft out of the international arms market. The re-examination of the deal is led by the Moldovan parliament and focuses on the destination of the $40m in cash paid by the US to the Moldovan government for the aircraft. The aircraft were part of a group of 27 inherited by the Moldovans after the breakup of the Soviet Union, several of which were equipped according to some reports, to potentially deliver tactical nuclear weapons. The US proposed to the cash strapped government that they would buy 21 of the aircraft for $80m. With half being paid in cash to the Molodovan government and the balance in military equipment and uniforms for the Moldovan armed forces. According to some Moldovan deputies the transfer of the funds to the budget did not occur and the money found its way into the bank accounts of senior Moldovan political figures, depriving the small country of substantial amounts of revenue. The imminent sale of the 6 remaining aircraft , recently overhauled in Belarus, has left the government looking for a buyer and the parliament wanting to “participate” in the process and revisiting the first US deal. Parliament is reported to have called on the former Ministry of Defence Valery Pasat, currently head of the Moldovan security services to explain the background to the 1997 sale. The US MiG-29s are now scattered among various US establishments including the National Air Intelligence Center at Wright -Patterson and the Threat Training Facility at Nellis. According to reports however, 16 remain in storage although the possibility is that some may be restored for flight.

Article ID: 2215