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RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHNP RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSK RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHCH #0108/01 0490655
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 180655Z FEB 09
FM AMEMBASSY CHISINAU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7629
INFO RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 2391
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHINGTON DC
RUEAHLC/HOMELAND SECURITY CENTER WASHINGTON DC
RHEFDHS/DHS WASHINGTON DC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHAD/AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI 0134
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 27 CHISINAU 000108 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR G/TIP, G, INL, DRL/AE, PRM, EUR/UMB 
STATE PLEASE PASS TO USAID 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM KTIP PGOV KWMN ELAB SMIG ASEC MD
SUBJECT: MOLDOVA: NINTH ANNUAL TRAFFICKING IN 
PERSONS (TIP) REPORT 
 
REFS: A. 08 STATE 132759, B. 08 Chisinau 1277 
 
¶1. (SBU) Post's responses to Ref A's questions are 
given below. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Ref A Question 23 A.  What is (are) the 
source(s) of available information on trafficking 
in persons? What plans are in place (if any) to 
undertake further documentation of human 
trafficking? How reliable are these sources? 
 
¶3. (SBU) Sources of available information are the 
Government of Moldova (GOM), NGOs such as La 
Strada, and the International Organization for 
Migration (IOM).  Data from these sources are 
trustworthy, although often difficult to compare 
because they use different categories of 
information.  The GOM has improved its 
organization of data in the second half of 2008 to 
include information on people sentenced for 
trafficking and related offenses.  See paras. 142- 
144 for the latest update. 
 
¶4. (SBU) The GOM's record-keeping on criminal 
cases is poor, though it has improved this past 
year, thanks to efforts by prosecutors to uncover 
links buried in thousands of separate, hard-cover 
files, and update us regularly with the results of 
their investigations.  Moldova has no automated 
case-tracking system; records are entered on file 
cards, which are stored in thousands of boxes, and 
in file folders which are scattered throughout 
different ministries.  Statistics about 
trafficking are therefore limited and much of what 
is reported is conjecture.  The most accurate 
reporting appears to be in the area of 
convictions. 
 
¶5. (SBU) In addition to difficulties with record- 
keeping, the GOM's byzantine organizational 
structure means that multiple agencies address the 
same issue, without coordinating their efforts. 
An individual is investigated for trafficking by 
separate agencies, yet prosecuted and convicted 
only by the Ministry of Justice .  Since different 
agencies report their own investigative records, 
often with only statistics and excluding names of 
suspects, the GOM is unable to determine 
accurately the percentage of eventual convictions 
such investigations yield.  The reporting that we 
have received, which is made in the face of such 
obstacles, reflects considerable effort by the GOM 
to meet our requirements. 
 
¶6. (SBU) In addition to the difficulties mentioned 
above, figures for the number of trafficking 
victims can only be estimated.  Under the common 
assumption that 70 percent of cases go unreported, 
IOM's figure of 2,286 victims assisted between 
2000 and 2007 translates to 7,620 victims, or 
slightly less than 1 percent of the 1.0 to 1.1 
million Moldovans working abroad, according to a 
2008 Gallup poll extrapolation. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Information on trafficking from IOM was 
perhaps the most reliable as to the numbers and 
demographics of victims.  In May 2007, the 
International Center for Migration Policy 
Development (ICMPD) conducted a survey on anti- 
trafficking efforts in Moldova, following which 
the Ministry for Social Protection, Family, and 
Child (MSP) assumed responsibility for the 
national victim-centred database.  In December 
2007, the ICMPD delivered a computer and software 
for use by the National Coordinating Unit in the 
MSP, which coordinates all data collection for the 
National Referral System. 
 
¶8. (SBU) The Center for Combating Trafficking in 
 
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Persons (CCTIP) and the Prosecutor General's 
Office (PGO) kept records of the trafficking cases 
they worked with.  The OSCE kept comprehensive 
information on organizations providing assistance. 
The Center for Prevention of Trafficking in Women 
(CPTW) also provided information on repatriated 
victims and legal services that have been provided 
to them, but this information was sporadic.  OSCE, 
the American Bar Association's Central European 
and Eurasian Law Initiative (ABA-CEELI), and the 
Embassy's Resident Legal Advisor (RLA) remained 
the best sources for information on legislative 
reform in the trafficking area. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Ref A Question 23 B: Is the country a 
country of origin, transit, and/or destination for 
internationally trafficked men, women, or 
children?  Does trafficking occur within the 
country's borders?  If so, does internal 
trafficking occur in territory outside of the 
government's control (e.g., in a civil war 
situation [sic])?  To where are people trafficked? 
For what purposes are they trafficked? Provide, 
where possible, numbers or estimates for each 
group of trafficking victims.  Have there been any 
changes in the TIP situation since the last TIP 
Report (e.g., changes in destinations)? 
 
¶10. (SBU) Moldova is primarily a country of 
origin.  As Ref B notes, the crime of trafficking 
per se occurs mostly outside the borders of the 
country, after potential victims are lured abroad 
(mostly by friends or relatives), or make the 
decision to accept what they know to be high-risk 
employment.  Increasingly we hear reports of a new 
pattern of trafficking in which, instead of 
traffickers luring girls abroad, victims who have 
gone abroad voluntarily to seek employment are 
entrapped when they arrive elsewhere.  In such 
cases no criminal actions take place within 
Moldova, and the entire crime takes place in the 
destination country. 
 
¶11. (SBU) Moldova remained a source country for 
trafficked persons, particularly women and girls; 
the approximately one percent of the population 
working abroad that has been trafficked is a 
relatively low per capita number.  It is also to a 
lesser extent a transit country, and there are 
some reported cases of internal trafficking, often 
of girls from rural areas, to the capital 
Chisinau.  Only isolated cases of trafficking to 
Moldova as a destination country have been 
reported. 
 
¶12. (SBU) Moldovan victims are attracted to Russia 
and countries of the Middle East.  Turkey remained 
the leading destination country in 2008, partly 
because of the large number of non-stop flights 
between Chisinau and Istanbul, and the 
availability of airport visas upon arrival for 
Moldovan citizens.  IOM reported that Moldova 
continued to emerge as a hub for trafficking 
because of corruption, and the ease with which 
real or fake documents can be produced in Moldova. 
Sex tourism exists, but no statistics are 
available.  Because of the ease of travel, and the 
efforts of particular travel organizations, 
clients for sex tourism usually came from Turkey. 
 
¶13. (SBU) Child sex tourism does not appear to be 
a serious problem in Moldova.  Post is unaware of 
any, small or large, commercial endeavors which 
involve child sex crimes save one.  Post is 
following an ongoing investigation between a 
Western European country and the GOM involving the 
distribution of child pornography via the 
Internet.  While there is no confirmation that 
these images were produced in Moldova, the 
 
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supposition seems reasonable since the target of 
this investigation lives and works in Moldova. 
Current information suggests this person acted 
alone and is not a member of an organized crime 
network.  The governments of Moldova and the 
Western European country are investigating this 
possibility and our Embassy remains ready to 
assist. 
 
¶14. (SBU) Occasionally Post becomes aware of cases 
of pedophiles traveling to Moldova individually to 
exploit children.  Such a case yielded a U.S. 
conviction in 2007.  Post remains involved in 
investigating one ongoing case and believes the 
GOM would immediately communicate to the Embassy 
any further cases which might become known. 
 
¶15. (SBU) While Post has seen several instances of 
children being smuggled outside of Moldova in the 
past few months, all of these incidents were 
humanitarian family-reunification cases in which 
Moldovan parents, working illegally outside of 
Moldova (not trafficked), had been arranging for 
their children to be transported to them.  None of 
these cases appears to be utilizing child sex 
tourism networks.  Post remains vigilant in 
investigating the possibility of trafficking in 
Moldovan children. 
 
¶16. (SBU) Ref A Question 23 C.  What kind of 
conditions are the victims trafficked into? 
 
¶17. (SBU) Ref B noted that conditions of servitude 
seem to have improved.  We are witnessing a new 
pattern in trafficking. Increasingly, young women 
are "persuaded" into prostitution as part of a 
debt-bondage scheme, not beaten, permitted to keep 
some of the money they earn, and allowed to 
telephone home.  They frequently can purchase 
their own freedom by recruiting a friend or 
relative to take their place.  Men offered 
apparently legitimate jobs and working in the 
construction industry abroad are frequently 
underpaid, or not paid at all, and threatened with 
exposure to the police if they fail to cooperate. 
(Note: These descriptions are anecdotal and based 
on the small number of victims of trafficking 
available for data collection.  End note.) 
 
¶18. (SBU) Ref A Question 23 D.  Vulnerability to 
TIP: Are certain groups of persons more at risk of 
being trafficked (e.g., women and children, boys 
versus girls, certain ethnic groups, refugees, 
IDPs, etc.)? 
 
¶19. (SBU) According to the IOM and La Strada 
interlocutors in ref B, young women with poor 
educational levels, low intelligence, and no job 
prospects, living in bleak, economically depressed 
rural areas, are the most vulnerable. 
 
¶20.  Ref A Question 23 E.  Traffickers and Their 
Methods: Who are the traffickers/exploiters? Are 
they independent business people?  Small or 
family-based crime groups?  Large international 
organized crime syndicates?  What methods are used 
to approach victims?  For example, are they 
offered lucrative jobs, sold by their families, or 
approached by friends of friends?  What methods 
are used to move the victims (e.g., are false 
documents being used?).  Are employment, travel, 
and tourism agencies or marriage brokers involved 
with or fronting for traffickers or crime groups 
to traffic individuals? 
 
¶21. (SBU) Perpetrators of TIP in Moldova can be 
divided into two groups: direct perpetrators and 
agents of trafficking.  Direct perpetrators are 
criminals who themselves forcefully or 
 
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fraudulently compel individuals to work in 
conditions of involuntary labor.  The actual crime 
of trafficking, the moment at which force or 
threats compel the victim to do the bidding of the 
trafficker, is occurring mostly outside of 
Moldova.  We know of recruitment in Moldova which 
involves single men persuading individual women to 
travel aboard for work in the commercial sex 
industry.  This recruitment becomes trafficking 
when the women, through fraud or compulsion 
exercised by the recruiter, travel to another 
country and then work under duress.  Presumably 
the same technique might be used to recruit 
persons directly for other types of labor.  We are 
unable to determine the extent or direction of 
this trafficking method, as existing reporting is 
anecdotal, and we cannot tell whether trafficking 
for eventual work in the sex trade is the most 
common.  If the victim chooses to leave Moldova 
willingly to work in the sex industry, then no 
crime has taken place within Moldova's borders. 
 
¶22. (SBU) Also present is agency trafficking, in 
which a firm or individual in a foreign country 
engages someone to recruit multiple victims in 
Moldova.  These agents are often perpetrators of 
"happy trafficking," the phenomenon of friends or 
acquaintances recruiting persons in Moldova in 
exchange for release from the agent's own peonage 
in the other country.  In a typical scenario, an 
employment company in a foreign country would 
charge a current trafficking victim with returning 
to Moldova to recruit one or more victims.  After 
being convinced that payment and terms are 
adequate, those future victims move to the agent's 
former country, where they are then compelled to 
work.  In exchange, the agent receives release 
from debts owed or other considerations. 
 
¶23. (SBU) Major transnational organized crime 
syndicates do not appear to be significant, direct 
actors in TIP in Moldova.  In the early part of 
this decade, the GOM initiated a broad effort 
against organized crime.  It appears that the most 
nefarious forms of organized crime--trafficking in 
persons and dangerous goods, kidnapping for 
ransom, and extortion through violence--are far 
less common in Moldova than in neighboring 
countries.  While Moldovan citizens might fall 
victim to organized crime trafficking networks 
outside of their country, such organizations do 
not appear to be operating in force in Moldova. 
 
¶24. (SBU) An important side note here is the 
possible use of online social networking sites. 
Awareness and use of the Internet among young 
urban Moldovans appears high; information 
technology is a mandatory subject at the high 
school level.  Solitary persons, or possibly 
organized groups, seeking to recruit potential 
trafficking victims could use these sites to make 
contacts with Moldovans without ever entering the 
country.  This method could be available to both 
direct perpetrators and agents of trafficking. 
Given the lack of direct evidence, we can make no 
conclusions regarding the extent of online 
recruiting. 
 
¶25. (SBU) Ref A Question 24 A.  Does the 
government acknowledge that trafficking is a 
problem in the country? If not, why not? 
 
¶26. (SBU) The Government's stated, official 
approach toward anti-trafficking efforts is one of 
strong commitment.  Foreign governments, NGOs, and 
the international media pressure the GOM to make 
public statements conceding a serious TIP problem. 
Responding to these pressures and his own 
concerns, the President himself has made public 
 
CHISINAU 00000108  005 OF 027 
 
 
statements about the government's commitment to 
fighting trafficking.  Our meetings with Moldovan 
officials are consistently marked by their 
expressed concern to reduce TIP; GOM officials 
respond positively to our requests for 
information, as noted in paras. 4 and 5 above. 
Continued foreign assistance is contingent on such 
statements followed by actions.  GOM institutions 
dealing with TIP (particularly the MSP and CCTIP) 
describe the problem of TIP as difficult to 
overcome.  The GOM works officially to address 
TIP, yet existing  problems such as corruption and 
a lack of resources undermine these efforts. 
 
¶27. (SBU) Many police contacts, including sources 
outside of the capital, state that the GOM's 
stress on the importance of counter-TIP efforts 
comes at the expense of other, often TIP-related 
law enforcement efforts.  For example, domestic 
abuse and alcoholism, which appear disturbingly 
common throughout Moldova, are difficult to 
investigate because authorities lack vehicles to 
transport officers to crime scenes expeditiously. 
GOM efforts to make the broad, societal 
improvements which would address the root causes 
of TIP, according to these sources, are inhibited 
by the skewing of resource allocations to TIP- 
related activities. 
 
¶28. (SBU) Corruption is rampant throughout 
Moldova, but we are unable to determine to what 
extent this problem facilitates TIP.  It would 
appear to at least make the practice easier and at 
worst to act as a strong motivation to participate 
in it. 
 
¶29. (SBU) Ref B Question 24 B.  Which government 
agencies are involved in anti- trafficking efforts 
and which agency, if any, has the lead? 
 
¶30. (SBU) We are seeing some progress towards the 
GOM's assumption of responsibilities which are the 
monopoly of government:  investigation, arrests, 
inter-agency cooperation, and case management. 
However, prosecution efforts, especially those 
which should be directed at high officials who 
might be complicit in trafficking, continue to 
lag.  At this point, given the changing nature of 
trafficking recruitment we cannot even be sure 
that there are high-level officials involved in 
the trafficking effort.  All GOM actions in 
combating TIP are institutionally centered at the 
CCTIP, the  lead GOM lead agency in anti-TIP 
efforts.  In 2008, the CCTIP was restructured, 
with eight officers assigned to regional 
coordination centers in the north and south of the 
country.  In each raion, one or two police 
officers are detailed to report to CCTIP 
coordination officers.  The GOM individual 
responsible for coordinating TIP-reduction efforts 
is Deputy Prime Minister Valentin Mejinschi. 
 
¶31. (SBU) The government, at the national and 
local level, used the National Referral Mechanism 
to coordinate prosecution, protection and 
prevention.  Government-appointed social workers 
and teachers, working with religious leaders, NGOs 
and National Referral system multi-disciplinary 
teams, were involved in prevention of trafficking 
and giving assistance to victims.  In mid-2007, 
the Ministry of Social Protection, Family, and 
Child (MSP) began to co-chair with the OSCE 
Mission the monthly Technical Coordination 
Meetings (TCMs).  At TCMs, NGOs, the government, 
international organizations, and foreign embassies 
make presentations on their work and coordinate 
efforts. 
 
¶32. (SBU) At the end of 2006, the Ministry of 
 
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Foreign Affairs and European Integration opened 
information centers on trafficking in persons in 
Moldovan embassies abroad, appointed counter- 
trafficking focal points at Moldovan diplomatic 
missions in major destination countries, and 
provided training for these individuals.  Efforts 
abroad focus on identifying victims and providing 
services, including repatriation to victims who 
seek assistance.  Victims whose passports have 
been confiscated may still be repatriated if the 
consular officer can identify them as Moldovan 
citizens.  The National Committee has the lead 
role in reviewing the government's anti- 
trafficking efforts, and it continued to hold 
meetings, which were open to NGOs and the 
international community.  Representatives from 
various ministries, raions (districts) and civil 
society make presentations on their efforts at 
these meetings.  In 2007, three National Committee 
meetings were conducted in urban hubs to 
accommodate as many regions as possible; 
information on GOM anti-trafficking efforts is 
posted on the Ministry of Interior website, and 
disseminated in the print media and on national 
and regional television and radio.  According to 
the latest information available on the OSCE's 
anti-trafficking website (www.atnet.md), one 
National Committee meeting took place in 2008, on 
July 30 in Chisinau. 
 
¶33. (SBU) The following government agencies were 
involved in anti-trafficking efforts:  the 
National Committee to Combat Trafficking in 
Persons (to be headed by a deputy prime minister, 
according to law); the inter-agency task force 
CCTIP; the Ministry of Justice; the Ministry of 
Internal Affairs (MOI); the Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs and European Integration; the Ministry of 
Education, Youth and Sports; the Migration Bureau 
of the MOI; the Ministry of Health, the Ministry 
of Social Protection, Family and Child; the 
Ministry of Economy and Trade; the Customs 
Service; the National Tourism Agency; the 
Information and Security Service; the Statistics 
and Sociology Department; the Information 
Development Ministry (passport authority); the 
Border Guards Service; the Center for Combating 
Economic Crime and Corruption; the Licensing 
Chamber; and the Prosecutor General's Office.  The 
CCTIP has the lead in coordinating and leading GOM 
efforts against TIP. 
The Ministry of Interior and the National 
Committee to Combat Trafficking in Persons are 
responsible for developing anti-trafficking 
programs within the government. 
 
¶34. (SBU) The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and 
European Integration; the Intelligence and 
Security Service; the 
Ministry of Interior; the Border Guard Service; 
and the National Migration Bureau are required to 
take necessary actions to forbid the presence in 
Moldova of foreign citizens and stateless persons, 
when there is accurate information that they are 
traffickers in human beings.  Also, the Ministry 
of Foreign Affairs and European Integration 
organizes and participates in negotiations aimed 
at signing international treaties with other 
states and international organizations in the 
field of trafficking in human beings, as well as 
through granting assistance and protection to 
trafficked persons abroad. 
 
¶35. (SBU) The Border Guard Service is required to 
prevent and combat trafficking in human beings 
through prevention, detection, and deterrence of 
attempted border crossings by traffickers in human 
beings, as well as illegal border crossings of the 
state border by victims of trafficking in human 
 
CHISINAU 00000108  007 OF 027 
 
 
beings. 
 
¶36. (SBU) MSP, with the assistance of the National 
Employment Agency, publishes information on the 
situation in the labor market, vocational training 
programs, and incentives for employment, by 
offering labor mediation services, professional 
information and counseling, vocational orientation 
and training, as well as consultations and 
assistance in starting a business activity. 
 
¶37. (SBU) The Ministry of Education, Youth and 
Sports, in cooperation with other interested 
ministries, 
local public administration authorities, and non- 
governmental organizations working in this field, 
develops educational and training programs for 
teachers, parents, children, and at-risk groups 
aimed at eliminating all the causes and conditions 
that foster trafficking in human beings, 
especially in women and children. 
 
¶38. (SBU) The Ministry of Information Development 
ensures the identification of victims of 
trafficking in human beings and issues residence 
permits or identity cards to victims of 
trafficking in human beings who are foreign 
citizens or stateless persons, when their stay in 
Moldova is necessary because of their personal 
circumstances or their participation in criminal 
proceedings against the trafficker.  We have no 
record of such cases occurring in 2008. 
 
¶39. (SBU) The Ministry of Economy and Commerce, 
together with other interested ministries and 
departments, develops and implements socio- 
economic programs aimed at the removal 
of the economic causes and conditions encouraging 
illegal migration, including trafficking in human 
beings. 
 
¶40. (SBU) Ref A Question 24C.  What are the 
limitations on the government's ability to address 
this problem in practice?  For example, is funding 
for police or other institutions inadequate?  Is 
overall corruption a problem? Does the government 
lack the resources to aid victims? 
 
¶41. (SBU) If the solution to trafficking in 
Moldova is a modern, well-funded State-led 
initiative against the practice, then Moldova is 
significantly behind where it needs to be to meet 
that goal.  Salaries for Moldovan law enforcement 
and judiciary officials are appallingly low, not 
only making them vulnerable to corruption, but in 
many cases compelled to seek extra sources of 
income.  The typical officer, with three family 
members to care for and a home to keep, cannot 
provide for his family on his official salary. 
Officials of the Center for Combating Trafficking 
in Persons (CCTIP), however, earn higher salaries 
than their colleagues in the Ministry of Interior. 
We are aware of widespread official corruption but 
are uncertain its true extent or nature.  Sources 
have reported that officers generally avoid the 
most offensive and most egregious types of 
bribery, out of some sense of integrity and a fear 
of reprisal. 
 
¶42. (SBU) Existing law enforcement resources are 
also a problem.  CCTIP, for example, was founded 
with U.S.  assistance, but was to be maintained by 
the GOM.  However, two years after the formal 
establishment of the Center, the facility receives 
only salaries, space, and stationery from the 
Government.  The Center has to scrounge for funds 
to cover its ongoing operational costs:  office 
supplies, vehicles, cellular phones, other 
equipment and training.  The USG provides some 
 
CHISINAU 00000108  008 OF 027 
 
 
assistance in the form of vehicles, equipment and 
training. 
¶43. (SBU) Other law enforcement entities with 
direct involvement in counter-trafficking efforts 
are even less adequately equipped.  The Ministry 
of Interior's Department of Operative Services 
conducts the majority of felony-level 
investigations in Moldova.  Operative Services 
relies heavily on twenty-four vehicles donated by 
the USG, and is often lacking even the most 
rudimentary financial support.  For example, when 
Operative Services sought to infiltrate a 
nefarious goods trafficking ring and required 
$5,000 to carry out a buy/bust operation, they 
solicited foreign embassies for assistance. 
 
¶44. (SBU) Sex trafficking and conventional labor 
trafficking continue despite Moldovan law 
enforcement efforts.  The conventional wisdom is 
that trafficking thrives in Moldova because law 
enforcement is corrupt and benefits from 
trafficking.  It appears, though, that despite 
Moldovan officers' willingness to accept bribes, 
trafficking continues not because the police are 
corrupt or incompetent, but because a modern and 
effective police force, capable of thwarting 
traffickers, still does not exist in Moldova. 
 
¶45. (SBU) In both the areas of sex trafficking and 
trafficking for labor, most of the fraud which 
allows persons to travel illegally to other 
countries does occur in Moldova itself.  However, 
the coercion which sends victims into peonage or 
forced labor is subsequent to the fraud, and is 
usually carried out abroad.  Since the fraud is 
not perpetrated on a visible level, such as in the 
mid-nineties when women were violently taken out 
of Moldova, it is difficult for Moldovan law 
enforcement to investigate. 
 
¶46. (SBU) Today's direct traffickers are not 
shackling women and putting them in buses against 
their will.  They are approaching girls at 
nightclubs and strip bars, buying those women 
drinks, taking them to dinner, and slowly 
persuading them to come with them to Dubai or 
Nicosia, ostensibly to work as waitresses (or 
other seemingly innocuous positions).  These 
direct recruiters make false promises and thus 
commit fraud, but generally they are not 
committing the crime of trafficking in Moldova. 
Additionally, if they come to Moldova once every 
few years, Moldovan law enforcement will have a 
hard time spotting them. 
 
¶47. (SBU) Agent traffickers are equally difficult 
to investigate and prosecute.  Often they are 
friends or relatives (increasingly women) who send 
a contact outside Moldova, where that person is 
then subject to abuse.  It is possible for 
Moldovan law enforcement to investigate and 
prosecute an individual who misrepresents working 
conditions to an acquaintance since that 
individual is likely Moldovan and resident in 
Moldova.  But these are cases which end with the 
arrest of that individual low-level Moldovan.  The 
true perpetrators of  the crime of trafficking are 
not in Moldova.  They are the construction firm or 
nightclub owner in Tel Aviv, for example, on 
behalf of whom the Moldovan recruiter is working. 
The leader of the enterprise is a suspect in 
another country, not a criminal operator based in 
Chisinau.  Similarly, law enforcement can 
infiltrate a travel agency which misrepresents 
factory jobs in Istanbul, but unless that company 
is tied to a large organization, the success ends 
with the prosecution of the travel agency for 
fraudulent documents, for example. 
 
 
CHISINAU 00000108  009 OF 027 
 
 
¶48. (SBU) We note again that we do not see the 
presence of large international networks 
recruiting in Moldova and therefore would expect 
that Moldovan law enforcement's most frequent 
successes would be against direct and not agency 
traffickers.  The likelihood of modernizing the 
Moldovan law enforcement institutions to the point 
that they could successfully penetrate and 
eliminate most or all of these small, personalized 
networks is extraordinarily low.  Law enforcement 
agencies in the United States and Western Europe 
struggle to eliminate such problems themselves. 
 
¶49. (SBU) However, the government's failure to 
undertake prosecution of a government official 
allegedly complicit in trafficking remains a 
problem, and contributed to Moldova's placement on 
Tier Three in 2008.  Statistics on the GOM website 
(www.gov.md) for social protection and 
prosecutions for crimes cover only the period from 
1999 through 2006, and list only the following 
crimes:  thefts, robberies and brigandage, murder, 
premeditated severe bodily injury, rape, narcotics 
offenses, and hooliganism. 
 
¶50. (SBU) The GOM's efforts against TIP contrast 
with the apathy shown by left-bank Transnistrian 
authorities, especially at the higher levels of 
administration, to the NGOs that assist with anti- 
trafficking efforts.  According to NGOs on the 
left bank, Transnistrian authorities neither 
assist nor hinder their work. 
 
¶51. (SBU) Corruption continued to pervade all 
sectors of Moldovan government and society.  There 
are no hard numbers on the extent to which 
government officials are complicit in trafficking 
crimes.  Most of these reports were limited to 
low-level officials.  During 2007, the CCTIP 
reported eight bribery attempts of its officers by 
suspects seeking to have cases closed or 
dismissed.  In 2008, two of these bribery cases 
were still in court proceedings; in the other six 
cases the defendants were convicted and fined from 
MDL 15,000 ($1,414) to MDL 35,000 ($3,300.) 
 
¶52. (SBU) Ref A Question 24 D.  To what extent 
does the government systematically monitor its 
anti-trafficking efforts (on all fronts -- 
prosecution, victim protection, and prevention) 
and periodically make available, publicly or 
privately and directly or through 
regional/international organizations, its 
assessments of these anti-trafficking efforts? 
 
¶53. (SBU) The GOM's institutional incapacity, and 
the historical Soviet mindset that information is 
to be hoarded within separate agencies, have 
created a situation in which the GOM has not been 
able to pull together a comprehensive statistical 
and narrative analysis showing all its efforts and 
all its results in prevention, protection, 
prosecution, and incarceration.  The creation of 
the CCTIP reflects a government effort to have a 
more centralized and more systematic approach to 
carrying out and monitoring its anti-trafficking 
efforts. 
 
¶54. (SBU) Ref A Question 25A.  Existing Laws 
against TIP: Does the country have a law or laws 
specifically prohibiting trafficking in persons-- 
both for sexual exploitation and labor?  If so, 
please specifically cite the name of the law(s) 
and its date of enactment and provide the exact 
language [actual copies preferable] of the TIP 
provisions.  Please provide a full inventory of 
trafficking laws, including non-criminal statutes 
that allow for civil penalties against alleged 
trafficking crimes (e.g., civil forfeiture laws 
 
CHISINAU 00000108  010 OF 027 
 
 
and laws against illegal debt).  Does the law(s) 
cover both internal and transnational forms of 
trafficking?  If not, under what other laws can 
traffickers be prosecuted?  For example, are there 
laws against slavery or the exploitation of 
prostitution by means of force, fraud, or 
coercion? Are these other laws being used in 
trafficking cases? 
 
¶55. (U) In 2005, Parliament passed a new law to 
address comprehensively all aspects of the crime 
of trafficking.  In 2007, the government made a 
series of efforts to implement the law.  The IOM 
reported that the MSP had provided staff and 
facilities to assist victims of trafficking.  At 
the end of 2007 the MSP committed 512,000 Moldovan 
lei (approximately USD 44,300) from its budget to 
fund the activities of the Chisinau Rehabilitation 
Center in 2008.  See para. 98 for updated budget 
allocations. 
 
¶56. (U) In June 2005, Parliament passed an 
amendment to the Law on Employment and Social 
Protection, which now allows all categories of 
vulnerable youth from 16 to 18 years of age 
(graduates of residential institutions, orphans, 
children without parental care, children from one- 
parent families, victims of trafficking, disabled 
persons, persons released from penitentiaries and 
beneficiaries of rehabilitation institutions) to 
receive government benefits.  Before this 
amendment, children between the ages of 16 and 18 
were no longer covered by the educational and 
housing services of the Ministry of Education, but 
were not yet entitled to receive the benefits 
provided by the Ministry of Economy and Trade, 
such as unemployment or vocational training. 
 
¶57. (U) Trafficking in persons was criminalized 
under Moldovan law in August 2001.  In 2005, 
amendments to the Criminal Code made the victim's 
consent to being trafficked irrelevant.  In 
addition, the anti-trafficking legislation was 
complemented by passage of a comprehensive law on 
the prevention and combating of trafficking in 
persons that came into effect in December 2005. 
The government worked closely with the 
international community on the law, which was 
studied and approved by the OSCE and the Council 
of Europe.  The law includes a definition of 
trafficking that is fully consistent with the 
Palermo Protocol.  The law exempts victims from 
criminal prosecution for illegal acts committed 
during the trafficking experience, without 
preconditioning this exemption on the victim's 
willingness to cooperate with law enforcement 
authorities, as the previous legislation 
stipulated.  The law also institutes a "reflection 
period" of 30 days, during which time a victim can 
decide whether he/she will cooperate with law 
enforcement in any criminal proceedings against 
his/her traffickers.  Furthermore, the law 
establishes obligations of central and local 
public authorities with regard to combating 
trafficking and assisting victims of trafficking. 
For example, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and 
European Integration has been appointed as the 
main governmental agency responsible for 
coordinating the repatriation of victims. 
 
¶58.  (U) The articles in the current criminal code 
on trafficking in persons and trafficking in 
children include the following provisions.  (Note: 
the Law on Preventing and Combating Domestic 
Violence was enacted on March 18, 2008 taking 
effect after six months on September 18, 2008. 
End note.) 
 
Begin text: 
 
CHISINAU 00000108  011 OF 027 
 
 
Article 165.  Trafficking in human beings, which 
comprises 
 
(1) Recruitment, transportation, transfer, 
harboring or acceptance of a person for purposes 
of commercial or non-commercial sexual 
exploitation, forced work or services, slavery or 
any forms of servitude, use of persons in armed 
conflicts, transplantation of organs, or tests on 
human beings, as well as for use of persons in 
criminal activities, committed through: 
a) Threatening or use of physical violence not 
dangerous for life and health of the person, 
including that through kidnapping, seizure of 
documents, and servitude, in order to return 
debts, the limits and size of which are not set in 
a reasonable mode; 
b) Deception; 
c) Abuse of power, payment or receipt of charges 
or benefits, in order to get consent of a person 
who controls 
other persons, or abuse of vulnerability, 
is punished with imprisonment from seven to 
fifteen years. 
 
(2) Actions listed in paragraph (1) of this 
article that were: 
a) Committed repeatedly; 
b) Against two or more persons; 
c) Against pregnant women; committed 
d) By two or more persons 
f) By a public servant or a senior public servant; 
g) By use of torture, inhuman treatment, or 
degrading treatment in order to place persons 
under control either through violence, rape, 
physical dependence, use of weapons, threat of 
disclosure of confidential information of the 
person's family, or other persons, as well as 
through other means, 
are punished with imprisonment from ten to twenty 
years. 
 
Legal entities can be fined 100,000 to 140,000 lei 
(approximately USD 10,000 to 14,000). 
 
(3) Actions named in paragraphs 1 and 2 of this 
article: 
a) Committed by an organized criminal group or 
criminal organization; 
b) Resulting in death or serious bodily or mental 
injuries to a person, 
are punished with imprisonment from fifteen to 
twenty-five years or with life imprisonment. 
 
Article 206.  Trafficking in children 
 
(1) Recruitment, transportation, transfer, 
harboring or 
acceptance of a child or renting, receiving 
payments or 
benefits for obtaining consent of a person who 
controls the 
child for purposes of: 
a) Commercial or non-commercial sexual 
exploitation, 
b) Forced labor or services; 
c) Slavery or any forms of servitude, including 
illegal adoption; 
d) Use of a child in armed conflicts; 
e) Use of a child in criminal activities; 
f) Transplantation of organs, or tissues for 
transplant; 
g) Abandoning him/her abroad, 
is punished with imprisonment from ten to fifteen 
years. 
 
(2) Actions listed in paragraph (1) of this 
article, accompanied by: 
a) Use of physical or psychological violence 
 
CHISINAU 00000108  012 OF 027 
 
 
against a 
child; 
b) Sexual abuse of the child, commercial or non- 
commercial sexual exploitation; 
c) Use of torture, inhuman treatment, or degrading 
treatment in order to ensure subordination of the 
child 
either through violence, rape, physical 
dependence, use of 
weapons, threat of disclosure of confidential 
information 
of the child's family, or other persons; 
d) Enslavement, or conditions similar to slavery; 
e) Use of the child in armed conflicts; 
f) Transplantation of organs or tissues for 
transplant, 
are punished by imprisonment from fifteen to 
twenty years. 
 
(3) Actions listed in paragraphs 1 and 2 of this 
article: 
a) Committed repeatedly; 
b) Committed against two or more children; 
c) Committed by an organized criminal group or 
criminal organization; 
d) Resulting in death or serious bodily or mental 
injuries of a child, 
are punished with imprisonment from twenty to 
twenty five years or life imprisonment. 
 
¶59. (SBU) Ref A Question 25B.  Punishment of Sex 
Trafficking Offenses:  What are the prescribed and 
imposed penalties for trafficking people for 
sexual exploitation? 
 
¶60. (U) In December 2005, the Criminal Code was 
amended to allow the prosecution of those who 
organize illegal migration.  In addition, Moldova 
has criminal code articles on forced labor, 
slavery and slavery-like conditions, illegal 
transport of children out of the country (art. 206 
CC), and forced removal of organs or tissues to be 
used in transplant operations (art. 158 CC). 
(Note: The Kidney Foundation of Moldova reported 
that, according to its knowledge, 32 people were 
trafficked from Moldova for organ retrieval in 
¶2007. Updated data for 2008 are not yet available. 
End note.)  In 2007, authorities used these anti- 
trafficking articles, and preexisting anti- 
trafficking laws, in criminal cases.  They also 
targeted suspected traffickers with criminal 
charges of pimping and document forging.  All of 
these laws cover both internal and external 
trafficking.  The penalty for trafficking varies 
from seven years to life in prison. 
 
¶61. (SBU) Ref A Question 25C.  Punishment of Labor 
Trafficking Offenses: What are the prescribed and 
imposed penalties for trafficking for labor 
exploitation, such as forced or bonded labor? If 
your country is a source country for labor 
migrants, do the government's laws provide for 
criminal punishment (i.e., jail time) for labor 
recruiters who engage in recruitment of workers 
using knowingly fraudulent or deceptive offers 
with the purpose of subjecting workers to 
trafficking in the destination country?  If your 
country is a destination for labor migrants, are 
there laws punishing employers or labor agents who 
confiscate workers' passports or travel documents 
for the purpose of trafficking, switch contracts 
without the worker's consent as a means to keep 
the worker in a state of service, or withhold 
payment of salaries as means of keeping the worker 
in a state of service? 
 
¶62. (U) The Moldovan Criminal Code under the 
Trafficking in Persons section also defines "the 
recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring 
 
CHISINAU 00000108  013 OF 027 
 
 
or receipt of a person for the purpose of labor 
exploitation or services, in slavery or similar 
conditions."  Moreover, Moldova as a source 
country incriminates forced or bonded labor and 
slavery and conditions similar to slavery as 
separate distinctive crimes and provides for jail 
time.  Hence, if a person is charged with 
trafficking in persons for forced labor, besides 
trafficking charges the labor recruiter may face 
additional charges on forced labor or slavery. 
Upon sentencing, the courts cumulate the penalty 
prescribed for trafficking in persons (minimum: 7 
years of imprisonment and maximum: life detention) 
with the one prescribed for forced labor (minimum: 
fine or 3 years of imprisonment and maximum: 10 
years of imprisonment).  The penalties imposed for 
trafficking in persons for forced labor vary from 
7 to 12 years or from 15 to 22 years of 
imprisonment. 
 
¶63. (SBU) Ref A Question 25D.  What are the 
prescribed penalties for rape or forcible sexual 
assault? (Note: This is necessary to evaluate a 
foreign government's compliance with TVPA Minimum 
Standard 2, which reads: "For the knowing 
commission of any act of sex traffickingthe 
government of the country should prescribe 
punishment commensurate with that for grave 
crimes, such as forcible sexual assault (rape)." 
End note.) 
 
¶64. (U) The Moldovan Criminal Code stipulates that 
the penalty for rape or forcible sexual assault 
ranges from three years of imprisonment up to life 
imprisonment when the crime is committed in 
aggravating circumstances.  For trafficking in 
persons, the lowest penalty is seven years of 
imprisonment, which is a higher jail term than for 
the lowest penalty for rape.  The highest penalty 
is the same for both crimes--life imprisonment. 
According to the criminal statute, both crimes are 
considered as exceptionally grave and the 
penalties prescribed for trafficking are 
commensurate with or even higher than for forcible 
sexual assault. 
 
¶65. (SBU) Ref A Question 25 E.  Law Enforcement 
Statistics: Did the government prosecute any cases 
against human trafficking offenders during the 
reporting period?  If so, provide numbers of 
investigations, prosecutions, convictions, and 
sentences imposed, including details on plea 
bargains and fines, if relevant and available. 
Please note the number of convicted traffickers 
who received suspended sentences and the number 
who received only a fine as punishment.  Please 
indicate which laws were used to investigate, 
prosecute, convict, and sentence traffickers. 
Also, if possible, please disaggregate numbers of 
cases by type of TIP (labor vs. commercial sexual 
exploitation) and victims (children under 18 years 
of age vs. adults).  If in a labor source country, 
did the government criminally prosecute labor 
recruiters who recruit workers using knowingly 
fraudulent or deceptive offers or by imposing fees 
or commissions for the purpose of subjecting the 
worker to debt bondage?  Did the government in a 
labor destination country criminally prosecute 
employers or labor agents who confiscate workers' 
passports/travel documents for the purpose of 
trafficking, switch contracts or terms of 
employment without the worker's consent to keep 
workers in a state of service, use physical or 
sexual abuse or the threat of such abuse to keep 
workers in a state of service, or withhold payment 
of salaries as a means to keep workers in a state 
of service?  What were the actual punishments 
imposed on persons convicted of these offenses? 
Are the traffickers serving the time sentenced? If 
 
CHISINAU 00000108  014 OF 027 
 
 
not, why not? 
 
¶66. (SBU) In 2008, CCTIP released statistics 
regarding the number of cases opened, number of 
cases sent to the courts and number of convictions 
that carry penalties: 
 
--Number of cases opened: TIP Q 215; Trafficking 
in children Q 31; Taking children out the country 
illegally Q 18; Pimping Q 161; Illegal migration 
117; 
 
--Number of cases sent to court: TIP Q 96; 
Trafficking in children Q 31; Taking children out 
the country illegally Q 3; Pimping Q 128; Illegal 
migration: 56 
 
--Number of convictions that carry penalties: TIP 
and Trafficking in children -58 sentenced to 
imprisonment from 7 to 23 years. 
 
¶67. (SBU) The CCTIP and Ministry of Interior units 
closed down 29 networks of trafficking and illegal 
migration in 2008, including ten networks of 
sexual exploitation (eight from Turkey and two 
from Cyprus), one network of organ harvesting 
(from Turkey), 17 networks that organized illegal 
migration, and one network of illegal 
transportation of children. 
 
¶68. (SBU) The GOM carried out oversight on the 
lawfulness of orders (in 2007 and the first seven 
months of 2008) which refused the initiation of 
criminal proceedings, and terminating criminal 
proceedings.  Refusal to initiate cases occurred 
in 54 cases, and termination occurred in 41 cases. 
No evaluation of the propriety of these actions 
has been provided. 
 
¶69. (SBU) On June 20, 2008, the Chisinau Court of 
Appeals sentenced Alexandru Covali (alias Shalun) 
to 21 years imprisonment.  Prosecutors 
successfully argued that from 2001 to 2006 Covali 
created a criminal organization which operated on 
the territory of Moldova, Romania, and Ukraine, 
orchestrating a broad network of human 
trafficking, trafficking in children and pimping. 
According to the prosecutors, the recruitment of 
the victims was carried out in Moldovan territory, 
mainly in Transnistria.  Victims were transported 
to Chisinau, being sheltered in specially prepared 
houses and apartments.  Covali remains in jail. 
 
¶70. (SBU) On December 27, 2006, Moldovan citizen 
Ion Gusin was convicted of trafficking in persons 
and sentenced to 22 years in jail for his role as 
pimp and translator for a foreign sex tourist, 
U.S. citizen Anthony Bianchi.  (See paras. 92, 
131, and 139.)  Gusin moved children around 
Moldova for abuse by this perpetrator.  The case 
is notable for the successful prosecution of a 
case of internal trafficking, and for the strong 
cooperation offered to the USG by the GOM. 
 
¶71. (SBU) Ref A Question 25 F.  Does the 
government provide any specialized training for 
government officials in how to recognize, 
investigate, and prosecute instances of 
trafficking?  Specify whether NGOs, international 
organizations, and/or the USG provide specialized 
training for host government officials. 
 
¶72. (SBU) The Police Academy has included a 
regular segment on trafficking in its curriculum 
developed in conjunction with the NGO La Strada. 
Members of the Supreme Court of Justice and the 
PGO participated in training sessions organized by 
OSCE that also included speakers from NGOs and our 
Embassy's Resident Legal Advisor office.  The 
 
CHISINAU 00000108  015 OF 027 
 
 
Ministry of Internal Affairs organized 32 seminars 
and training sessions on trafficking for its 
employees in 2008.  In January 2008, the U.K. 
Embassy jointly with the National Academy of 
Justice of Moldova organized a training course for 
judges, prosecutors, investigators and NGOs on 
child trafficking and child pornography.  In April 
2008, CCTIP organized a seminar for employees of 
the MSP on prevention, combating and assistance to 
victims of human trafficking.  In June 2008, EUBAM 
organized with CCTIP a seminar on combating 
trafficking in persons.  Among the participants 
were representatives from Ministry of Internal 
Affairs, EUBAM, Border Guards Service and 
Intelligence Services from Moldova and Ukraine. 
Also, law enforcement officers from Hungary, 
Slovakia, Romania, as well as IOM representatives, 
were present.  In September 2008, CCTIP hosted a 
working meeting with representatives of consular 
offices in the Republic of Moldova, at which 
consular officers learned about methods and 
techniques used by traffickers of human beings. 
In November 2008, CCTIP jointly with Spanish 
counterparts organized a seminar on combating 
human trafficking. 
 
¶73. (SBU) The U.S. Embassy provided six training 
courses to officers of the Center for Combating 
Trafficking in persons in 2008: 
 
--Interview and Source Development Training Course 
(January 21-25, 2008).  The course increased the 
knowledge and skills of CCTIP officers in the area 
of modern interviewing methods, giving particular 
attention to interviewing TIP victims and 
vulnerable witnesses. 
 
--Task/Strike Force Training (February 25Q28, 
2008).  The course trained CCTIP officers on task 
force operations, particularly as they apply to 
the fight against human trafficking. 
 
--Public Relations/Media Training (April 7Q10, 
2008).  The session enhanced participants' ability 
to conduct effective news conferences and 
augmented writing and editing skills; it exposed 
the participants to challenges experienced when 
dealing with media representatives; and improved 
the channels of communication and cooperation 
between respective CCTIP agencies. 
 
--Public Corruption Course (May 19Q23, 2008).  The 
trainers trained participants to conduct 
investigations against public officials complicit 
in crimes of human trafficking, not only against 
law enforcement entities (police, border guards, 
customs, prosecutors), but also against low- to 
senior-level public administration officials (from 
local to city and regional). 
 
--Internet 2 Training (September 22Q26, 2008). 
The participants learned to turn large volumes of 
disparate data into actionable information by 
using Analyst's Notebook 7, the world's most 
powerful visual investigative analysis software. 
 
--Legal Fundamentals of Combating Trafficking in 
Persons in the Republic of Moldova (December 1-3, 
2008).  The course presented to investigators and 
prosecutors the status of laws and regulations 
that govern investigation and prosecution process 
of counter-trafficking process and other 
associated crimes. 
 
¶74. (SBU) IOM organized and supported 43 training 
sessions on prevention and combating of human 
trafficking in 2008: seven training courses on the 
National Referral System, with the participation 
of multidisciplinary teams; three training 
 
CHISINAU 00000108  016 OF 027 
 
 
sessions for family doctors on organ harvesting; 
four training sessions for specialists in child 
protection; 24 training courses for border guards 
from Moldova, Romania and Ukraine and Moldovan 
police officers on identification of victims of 
trafficking; four training sessions in 
Transnistria for volunteers and social workers on 
prevention of human trafficking; and one training 
session for law enforcement representatives. 
 
¶75. (SBU) In 2008, La Strada organized: 
 
--11 debriefings on identification of TIP victims 
and new trends in human trafficking in 11 raions 
of Moldova for social assistants, law enforcement 
and teachers; 
 
--three roundtable discussions for government 
officials and teachers on the National Referral 
System and prevention of human trafficking; 
 
--one conference for government officials, civil 
society, international organizations and 
diplomatic missions.  Among the topics addressed 
were: the development of the National Referral 
Mechanism in Ukraine, Moldova and Romania; and 
best practices of cooperation among state 
structures, civil society and international 
organizations regarding assistance and protection 
of victims of trafficking; 
 
--six training courses organized in partnership 
with IOM, the European Border Assistance Mission 
(EUBAM), the National Institute of Justice, OSCE, 
PGO and CCTIP on victim assistance and protection. 
 
¶76. (SBU) Ref A Question 25 G: Does the government 
cooperate with other governments in the 
investigation and prosecution of trafficking 
cases?  If possible, provide the number of 
cooperative international investigations on 
trafficking during the reporting period. 
 
¶77. (SBU) Following the 2008 Action Plan on 
combating trafficking in persons and illegal 
migration of the GUAM Working Group (Georgia, 
Azerbaijan, Ukraine and Moldova), CCTIP 
participated in international operations with GUAM 
countries such as Perehvat II and Perehvat III 
during May 12Q16, 2008 and November 17Q21, 2008. 
The operations identified and liquidated criminal 
networks dealing with human trafficking and 
illegal migration on the territory of GUAM 
countries. 
 
¶78. (SBU) During 2008, EUBAM conducted two 
international operations (April 7-24, 2008, and 
August 26QSeptember 12, 2008) to combat human 
trafficking and illegal migration with the 
participation of officers from the CCTIP.  To 
enhance cooperation between Moldovan and Ukrainian 
law enforcement in fighting human trafficking, 
CCTIP and Moldovan Border Guards Service detached 
liaison officers to Odessa to ensure an efficient 
and timely exchange of information. 
 
¶79. (SBU) The Government's investigation of 
trafficking is largely limited to low- and mid- 
level crimes.  Although the law on operative 
investigators was amended in February of 2004 to 
expand investigators' ability to work undercover 
and to use advanced techniques such as electronic 
surveillance, investigators have not yet, as far 
as the GOM has reported to us, taken full 
advantage of this authority.  Mitigated punishment 
for cooperating suspects is available to 
prosecutors under current Moldovan law, but the 
procedure is used largely to dispose of 
uncontested cases rather than as an investigative 
 
CHISINAU 00000108  017 OF 027 
 
 
tool. 
 
¶80. (SBU) Following the provisions of the Letter 
of Agreement on Narcotics Control and Law 
Enforcement signed in 2001 between the U.S. 
Government and the GOM, the U.S.  Government has 
renovated the CCTIP, installing specially designed 
office furniture and modern computer hardware and 
software.  The U.S. Embassy has developed a 
comprehensive training plan for CCTIP staff, which 
includes interview and interrogation techniques, 
task and strike force management, ethics and 
public corruption, information technology 
training, officer safety and survival, and crime 
scene management. 
 
¶81. (SBU) Ref A Question 25 H.  Does the 
government extradite persons who are charged with 
trafficking in other countries?  If so, please 
provide the number of traffickers extradited 
during the reporting period, and the number of 
trafficking extraditions pending.  In particular, 
please report on any pending or concluded 
extraditions of trafficking offenders to the 
United States. 
 
¶82. (SBU) Persons who are charged with trafficking 
in other countries can be extradited only on the 
basis of an international treaty to which the 
Republic of Moldova is a party or on terms of 
reciprocity according to a judicial decision. 
Although such treaties do exist between Moldova 
and many countries, there have been no 
extraditions for trafficking cases.  Citizens of 
the Republic of Moldova and persons who have been 
granted political asylum by the Republic of 
Moldova cannot be extradited from the country if 
they have committed the crime abroad but are 
subject to criminal liability in Moldova under the 
present code. 
 
¶83. (SBU) Ref A Question 25 I.  Is there evidence 
of government involvement in or tolerance of 
trafficking, on a local or institutional level? If 
so, please explain in detail. 
 
¶84. (SBU)  The GOM in summer 2008 gave details of 
several cases on which it promised follow-up.  See 
paras. 142-144 for the latest update. 
 
¶85. (SBU) Ref A Question 25 J.  If government 
officials are involved in trafficking, what steps 
has the government taken to end such 
participation? Please indicate the number of 
government officials investigated and prosecuted 
for involvement in trafficking or trafficking- 
related corruption during the reporting period. 
Have any been convicted? What sentence(s) was 
imposed? Please specify if officials received 
suspended sentences, or were given a fine, fired, 
or reassigned to another position within the 
government as punishment.  Please indicate the 
number of convicted officials that received 
suspended sentences or received only a fine as 
punishment. 
 
¶86. (SBU)) On June 11, 2008, the Anticorruption 
Prosecutor's Office resumed the investigation of 
the alleged involvement of government officials 
(former CCTIP Director Bejan and other CCTIP 
officers) in trafficking.  The prosecutors are 
attempting to elicit cooperation of individuals 
sentenced in the Covali case, who were suspected 
of possessing information concerning Bejan's 
alleged complicity The prosecutors are also 
tracing the illegal assets originating from 
Covali's criminal actions in order to determine 
the nexus between Covali's trafficking activities 
and corruption of government officials.  The 
 
CHISINAU 00000108  018 OF 027 
 
 
resumption of this high-profile investigation was 
widely announced in the summer of 2008, via press 
conferences and website postings.  During 2008, 
the PGO negotiated with the Superior Council of 
Magistrates to lift the immunity of two trial 
court judges and prosecute them.  The magistrates 
are suspected of unreasonably downgrading the 
charges in two trafficking cases and imposing on 
the defendants (traffickers) penalties more 
lenient than prescribed by the law.  See paras. 
142-144 for further updates. 
 
¶87. (SBU) Ref A Question 25 K.  Is prostitution 
legalized or decriminalized?  Specifically, are 
the activities of the prostitute criminalized? Are 
the activities of the brothel owner/operator, 
clients, pimps, and enforcers criminalized? Are 
these laws enforced?  If prostitution is legal and 
regulated, what is the legal minimum age for this 
activity? Note that in countries with federalist 
systems, prostitution laws may be under state or 
local jurisdiction and may differ among 
jurisdictions. 
 
¶88. (U) Prostitution is not criminalized, but it 
is an administrative offense punished by 30 days' 
detention if practiced repeatedly.  Clients are 
not punished.  Pimping is criminalized and the law 
is enforced with penalties ranging from two to 
seven years of jail time.  Traditionally, many 
cases that began as trafficking cases were 
eventually downgraded to pimping; lack of solid 
evidence and refusal of the victim to testify were 
often cited by prosecutors and investigators. 
 
¶89. (SBU) Ref A Question 25 L.  For countries that 
contribute troops to international peacekeeping 
efforts, please indicate whether the government 
vigorously investigated, prosecuted, convicted and 
sentenced nationals of the country deployed abroad 
as part of a peacekeeping or other similar mission 
who engaged in or facilitated severe forms of 
trafficking or who exploited victims of such 
trafficking. 
 
¶90. (SBU) No reports exist of Moldovan 
peacekeepers (demining contingents) in Iraq 
participating in such activities. 
 
¶91. (SBU) Ref A Question 25 M.  If the country has 
an identified problem of child sex tourists coming 
to the country, what are the countries of origin 
for sex tourists? How many foreign pedophiles did 
the government prosecute or deport/extradite to 
their country of origin? If your host country's 
nationals are perpetrators of child sex tourism, 
do the country's child sexual abuse laws have 
extraterritorial coverage (similar to the U.S. 
PROTECT Act) to allow the prosecution of suspected 
sex tourists for crimes committed abroad?  If so, 
how many of the country's nationals were 
prosecuted and/or convicted during the reporting 
period under the extraterritorial provision(s) for 
traveling to other countries to engage in child 
sex tourism? 
 
¶92. (SBU) Of the 61 investigations launched by 
CCTIP under the trafficking in children statute, 
one high-profile case involved U.S. citizen Mark 
Anthony Bianchi and Moldovan citizen Ion Georghe 
Gusin.  On the basis of this case, the CCTIP 
launched 17 criminal investigations under the 
child trafficking, violent acts of sexual nature, 
forced sexual relations, and perverse acts 
articles of the Criminal Code.  The CCTIP worked 
jointly with U.S. officials in the investigation 
and prosecution of Bianchi, who was charged under 
a 2003 U.S. federal law that makes it illegal for 
Americans to commit sexual crimes against children 
 
CHISINAU 00000108  019 OF 027 
 
 
in foreign countries.  Eight of the victims from 
Moldova and four CCTIP officers traveled to 
Philadelphia in July 2007 to testify in a U.S. 
federal court, before an American jury, against 
Mr. Bianchi.  Bianchi was convicted in 2007.  On 
January 7, 2009, Judge Bruce Kaufman of the 
Eastern District Court denied Bianchi's appeal of 
his conviction.  He has been incarcerated and 
awaiting sentencing since his arrest.  According 
to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement 
press release, Bianchi faces 36 years of 
imprisonment, a mandatory minimum sentence of five 
years, five years supervised release, a $3 million 
fine and a $1,200 special assessment. 
 
¶93. (SBU) Ref A Question 26 A.  What kind of 
protection is the government able under existing 
law to provide for victims and witnesses? Does it 
provide these protections in practice? 
 
¶94. (SBU) In September 2008 GOM enacted a new 
witness protection law, which included many 
provisions recommended by the U.S. Embassy.  The 
law clearly distinguishes the activities pertinent 
to protection of witness and actions meant to 
assist victims of crimes.  It also provides for 
the creation of a separate witness protection 
division under the Ministry of Interior. 
According to the law, the prosecutor leading the 
investigation is the ultimate decision-maker on 
whether to place witnesses under a protection 
program and whether to refer victims to special 
social and medical care facilities.  In addition 
to a special Division on Witness Protection based 
on the law, the CCTIP has a special unit for 
witness and victim protection and assistance. 
This unit protects and encourages victims to 
assist in the investigation and prosecution of 
trafficking cases.  The main purpose of the unit, 
even though it has no separate premises yet, is to 
provide for physical and psychological protection. 
Simple measures include court security, access to 
police, police escorts, keeping the victims 
constantly informed of the status of the legal 
proceedings, access to counseling, and protection 
while participating in criminal procedures.  In 
2009, the unit plans to open a new office, 
renovated under a $500,000 USG grant.  The office 
will have specially furnished space (beds, 
showers) that will enable officers to offer 
victims confidentiality, secure housing and 
protection during their participation in legal 
proceedings.  After the trial, the victims will be 
referred to a center operated by the MSP in order 
to get access to legal and social support 
services, including post-trial counseling, to 
address any trauma caused by testifying. 
 
¶95. (SBU) Ref A Question 26 B.  Does the country 
have victim care facilities (shelters or drop-in 
centers) which are accessible to trafficking 
victims? Do foreign victims have the same access 
to care as domestic trafficking victims? Where are 
child victims placed (e.g., in shelters, foster 
care, or juvenile justice detention centers)? Does 
the country have specialized care for adults in 
addition to children? Does the country have 
specialized care for male victims as well as 
female? Does the country have specialized 
facilities dedicated to helping victims of 
trafficking? Are these facilities operated by the 
government or by NGOs? What is the funding source 
of these facilities? Please estimate the amount 
the government spent (in U.S. dollar equivalent) 
on these specialized facilities dedicated to 
helping trafficking victims during the reporting 
period. 
 
¶96. (SBU) Moldova currently does not have active 
 
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arrangements with other countries on the provision 
of temporary residence status for foreign-national 
victims of trafficking. 
 
¶97. (SBU) In December 2006, the Rehabilitation 
Center of the IOM was transferred to government 
ownership and responsibility.  The renamed 
Chisinau Assistance and Protection Center (CAPC) 
for TIP victims and potential victims is a state 
institution (established as of June 11, 2008) that 
is managed by the Ministry of Social Protection 
and Family and Child.  The Center is supported by 
the State budget (512,000 lei, approximately USD 
52,000, was allocated for the Center in 2008) and 
the IOM, according to the Cooperation Agreement 
concluded between IOM and the MSP.  In 2009, the 
Center will receive 608,600 Lei from the State 
Budget and 500,000 Lei for the repatriation of TIP 
victims and children left without parental care 
abroad.  The Center serves at the primary contact 
point in Moldova for repatriated victims, 
including children. 
 
¶98. (SBU) Apart from the MSP's CAPC, there are ten 
maternal and youth centers providing such 
assistance.  These centers are supported by local 
public authorities and NGOs.  The IOM will cover 
their operating costs for the next seven years. 
Legal, medical, and psychological services are 
mainly provided by international organizations and 
NGOs.  The CAPC is the only comprehensive victim 
assistance facility in the country.  Various 
ministries have cooperated with NGOs and 
international organizations to support assistance 
efforts.  For example, the Ministry of Interior 
signed a Memorandum of Collaboration with the IOM 
to ensure that victims of trafficking repatriated 
through the IOM are not apprehended by border 
guards to be transferred to the Ministry of 
Internal Affairs for interrogation, but allowed to 
go straight to the IOM Rehabilitation Center. 
Maternal and youth centers were established with 
USAID support and offer long term (six months to a 
year) assistance services to victims of 
trafficking. The USAID-funded centers include 
psychological counseling, life skills, social and 
professional reintegration. 
 
¶99. (SBU) Ref A Question 26 C.  Does the 
government provide trafficking victims with access 
to legal, medical and psychological services?  If 
so, please specify the kind of assistance 
provided.  Does the government provide funding or 
other forms of support to foreign or domestic NGOs 
and/or international organizations for providing 
these services to trafficking victims?  Please 
explain and provide any funding amounts in U.S. 
dollar equivalent.  If assistance provided was in- 
kind, please specify exact assistance.  Please 
specify if funding for assistance comes from a 
federal budget or from regional or local 
governments. 
 
¶100. (SBU) See paras. 97-98 above. 
 
¶101. (SBU) Ref A Question 26 D.  Does the 
government assist foreign trafficking victims, for 
example, by providing temporary to permanent 
residency status, or other relief from 
deportation? If so, please explain. 
 
¶102. (SBU) Post has no record of foreign 
trafficking victims being present or assisted in 
Moldova. 
 
¶103. (SBU) Ref A Question 26 E.  Does the 
government provide longer-term shelter or housing 
benefits to victims or other resources to aid the 
victims in rebuilding their lives? 
 
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¶104. (SBU) See paras. 97 and 98 above. 
 
¶105. (SBU) Ref A Question 26 F.  Does the 
government have a referral process to transfer 
victims detained, arrested or placed in protective 
custody by law enforcement authorities to 
institutions that provide short- or long-term care 
(either government or NGO-run)? 
 
¶106. (SBU) In 2008, the National Referral System 
for Protection and Assistance of Victims and 
Potential Victims of Trafficking (NRS) began 
operating in 16 raions and two municipalities.  In 
an effort to improve the legal framework and the 
institutionalization process of the NRS, the 
Parliament adopted on December 5, 2008, the 
Strategy and the Action Plan of the NRS on 
protection and assistance to TIP victims and 
potential TIP victims.  The Strategy established 
cooperation between competent state institutions 
and national and international organizations that 
are engaged in prevention and combating human 
trafficking.  The NRS has trained local 
specialists in skills such as direct contact with 
the victims; their reintegration into the family 
and the society; and the prevention of stigma 
usually attributed to TIP victims in society.  The 
multidisciplinary teams have been supplied with 
separate phone lines, internet access, computers, 
and stationary.  Some were also provided with 
furniture, and some coordinators of 
multidisciplinary teams are attending computer 
courses. 
 
¶107. (SBU) The Center of Assistance and Protection 
of TIP victims is the first contact point in 
Moldova for repatriated victims, including 
children, at which they receive temporary lodging 
and legal, medical, psychological, and social 
assistance.  If there is a need for a special 
service for the beneficiaries, these persons are 
referred to NRS for assistance.  During the first 
11 months of 2008, 24 TIP victims and 34 potential 
TIP victims were referred by NRS.  On March 27, 
2008, the Ministry of Social Protection signed a 
Memorandum of Cooperation with UNDP, Ministry of 
Public Administration, IOM, and the NGO 
Association of Psychologists Tighina to establish 
a partnership in order to implement the UNDP/USG 
Project "Better Opportunities for Women." This 
project hopes to establish an eight-bed center and 
shelter in Transnistria for TIP victims. 
 
¶108. (SBU) Ref A Question 26 G.  What is the total 
number of trafficking victims identified during 
the reporting period?  Of these, how many victims 
were referred to care facilities for assistance by 
law enforcement authorities during the reporting 
period?  By social services officials? What is the 
number of victims assisted by government-funded 
assistance programs and those not funded by the 
government during the reporting period? 
 
¶109. (SBU) In 2008, IOM Moldova provided 
assistance to 142 TIP victims. Out of the total 
IOM caseload, 26 TIP victims were referred through 
the National Referral System and received 
assistance from the local public authorities.  The 
Chisinau Center for Assistance and Protection 
(CAPC) provided assistance to 135 TIP victims in 
¶2008.  The CAPC received state funding in 2008. 
During August through December 2008, 38 TIP 
victims received assistance at the CAPC.  In 2008, 
CCTIP reported that 70 victims participated in 
criminal proceedings. 
 
¶110. (SBU) Ref A Question 26 H.  Do the 
government's law enforcement, immigration, and 
 
CHISINAU 00000108  022 OF 027 
 
 
social services personnel have a formal system of 
proactively identifying victims of trafficking 
among high-risk persons with whom they come in 
contact (e.g., foreign persons arrested for 
prostitution or immigration violations)?  For 
countries with legalized prostitution, does the 
government have a mechanism for screening for 
trafficking victims among persons involved in the 
legal/regulated commercial sex trade? 
 
¶111. (SBU) See paras. 106-107. 
 
¶112. (SBU) Ref A Question 26 I.  Are the rights of 
victims respected? Are trafficking victims 
detained or jailed?  If so, for how long?  Are 
victims fined?  Are victims prosecuted for 
violations of other laws, such as those governing 
immigration or prostitution? 
 
¶113. (SBU) Most NGOs agree that the government's 
treatment of victims continued to improve over the 
last few years and particularly in 2008, as seen 
in the coordinated efforts to assist victims 
overseas, bring them home safely, and rehabilitate 
them.  The counter-trafficking law exempts victims 
from prosecution for illegal actions committed 
during the trafficking experience.  Victims also 
are not fined for violations of immigration laws. 
Moreover, the new draft Code of Administrative 
Offences expressly provides that the persons 
engaged in practicing prostitution against their 
will shall are exempted from administrative 
liability. 
 
¶114. (SBU) Ref A, Question 26 J.  Does the 
government encourage victims to assist in the 
investigation and prosecution of trafficking?  How 
many victims assisted in the investigation and 
prosecution of traffickers during the reporting 
period?  May victims file civil suits or seek 
legal action against traffickers?  Does anyone 
impede victim access to such legal redress?  If a 
victim is a material witness in a court case 
against a former employer, is the victim permitted 
to obtain other employment or to leave the country 
pending trial proceedings?  Are there means by 
which a victim may obtain restitution? 
 
¶115. (SBU) The government encouraged victims to 
assist in the investigation and prosecution of 
trafficking.  Under Moldovan law, a victim can 
obtain restitution through criminal proceedings, 
but only if the victim requests it. 
 
¶116. (SBU) Ref A Question 26 K.  Does the 
government provide any specialized training for 
government officials in identifying trafficking 
victims and in the provision of assistance to 
trafficked victims, including the special needs of 
trafficked children?  Does the government provide 
training on protections and assistance to its 
embassies and consulates in foreign countries that 
are destination or transit countries?  What is the 
number of trafficking victims assisted by the host 
country's embassies or consulates abroad during 
the reporting period?  Please explain the type of 
assistance provided (travel documents, referrals 
to assistance, payment for transportation home). 
 
¶117. (SBU) In addition to regular training 
sessions conducted by CCTIP during 2008 for its 
newly employed officers (at the CCTIP, at three 
regional subdivisions, and at raion police 
stations), the CCTIP organized: 
 
--five courses on identification of TIP victims, 
interviewing techniques to be used when dealing 
with TIP victims, and eliciting their cooperation 
in the course of the investigation of TIP cases; 
 
CHISINAU 00000108  023 OF 027 
 
 
 
--a seminar in April 2008 for employees of the MSP 
on prevention of, combating and assistance to 
victims of human trafficking. 
 
¶118. (SBU) In 2008, the NRS supported local 
specialists, who attended a series of training 
courses conducted by the MSP.  The participants 
learned about direct contact with the victims and 
their reintegration into the family and the 
society, and the prevention of any possible stigma 
usually attributed to TIP victims in society.  In 
October, the MSP conducted an international 
conference on anti-trafficking "National 
Mechanisms of Referral for the Protection and 
Assistance of Trafficking Victims--Theory and 
Practice." 
 
¶119. (SBU) Ref A Question 26 L.  Does the 
government provide assistance, such as medical 
aid, shelter, or financial help, to its nationals 
who are repatriated as victims of trafficking? 
 
¶120. (SBU) See paras.57, 97, 98, and 107. 
 
¶121. (SBU) Ref A Question 26M.  Which 
international organizations or NGOs, if any, work 
with trafficking victims?  What types of services 
do they provide?  What sort of cooperation do they 
receive from local authorities? 
 
¶122. (SBU) The International Organization for 
Migration (IOM) and the NGO La Strada are the 
principal organizations working with victims of 
trafficking.  They provide relief, rehabilitation, 
and counseling.  Several NGOs provide half-way 
houses, typically with six to ten beds, for 
victims of trafficking.  Ref B describes positive 
reports from IOM and La Strada on the types and 
level of cooperation offered by the GOM. 
 
¶123. (SBU) Ref A Question 27 A.  Did the 
government conduct anti-trafficking information or 
education campaigns during the reporting period? 
If so, briefly describe the campaign(s), including 
their objectives and effectiveness.  Please 
provide the number of people reached by such 
awareness efforts, if available.  Do these 
campaigns target potential trafficking victims 
and/or the demand for trafficking (e.g., "clients" 
of prostitutes or beneficiaries of forced labor)? 
(Note:  This can be an especially noteworthy 
effort where prostitution is legal.  End Note.) 
 
¶124. (SBU) The National Employment Agency of the 
Ministry of Economy and Trade continued to provide 
vocational training free of charge to at-risk 
persons and returned trafficking victims referred 
by IOM.  It distributed information to potential 
victims about the job market and taught them how 
to prepare a resume, how to apply for a job, and 
how to handle a job interview, in addition to 
informing them about their rights and about job 
placement opportunities.  In an effort to increase 
public awareness related to trafficking in human 
beings, CCTIP, with local and international NGOs 
and IOs, developed and conducted seminars for high 
students, teaching staff from schools and 
universities, priests, local authorities and local 
law enforcement officials. 
 
¶125. (SBU) In 2008, the CCTIP organized and 
conducted 30 seminars on prevention of human 
trafficking in schools and universities of Moldova 
(State University of Moldova, State University Ion 
Creanga, Agrarian University, and Academy of 
Economic Studies).  Also, CCTIP conducted a number 
of discussions with priests in an effort to raise 
the awareness about human trafficking among the 
 
CHISINAU 00000108  024 OF 027 
 
 
population.  In March 2008, the CCTIP jointly with 
the Ministry of Education conducted a round table 
discussion with the leading students from major 
universities and NGOs involved in prevention and 
combating human trafficking.  The Ministry of 
Foreign Affairs and European Integration, Chamber 
of Licensing, CCTIP, IOM and other NGOs launched a 
campaign "Legal and Social Status of Youth". 
During this campaign, the students received 
comprehensive information about exchange programs, 
Work & Travel opportunities, and challenges 
associated with these programs. 
 
¶126. (SBU) In 2008, CCTIP hosted discussions of 
the problem of human trafficking in 27 interviews 
broadcast on radio and TV channels such as 
Moldova1, PRO TV, NIT, TV 21, TV7, and local media 
outlets.  The CCTIP conducts press conferences on 
a monthly basis, reporting to NGOs and interested 
members of the public society the activity of the 
Center. 
 
¶127. (SBU) In October, the MSP conducted an 
international conference on anti-trafficking 
"National Mechanisms of Referral for Protection 
and Assistance of Trafficking Victims--Theory and 
Practice."  Representatives of the MSP 
participated at the monthly Technical Coordination 
Meetings on Combating Trafficking in Persons 
hosted by OSCE. 
 
¶128. (SBU) Ref A Question 27 B.  Does the 
government monitor immigration and emigration 
patterns for evidence of trafficking? 
 
¶129. (SBU) In 2004, Pasager, an automated system 
to monitor borders, was implemented with U.S. 
support, and is being used by the Border Guards 
Service to, among other things, combat trafficking 
in persons, by monitoring and recording 
information on individuals crossing the border. 
Passport scanners are used to detect counterfeit 
documents.  Information introduced into the system 
using one of the three entry modules for road, 
air, and railway traffic is stored in a central 
database.  At Chisinau airport, in cooperation 
with the Ministry of Information Development, the 
Border Service implemented real-time ID control 
for Moldovan citizens.  In addition, the system 
has a mechanism for reviewing the most recent 
entry records and travel history of Moldovan 
citizens. 
 
¶130. (SBU) Ref A Question 27 C.  Is there a 
mechanism for coordination and communication 
between various agencies, internal, international, 
and multilateral on trafficking-related matters, 
such as a multi-agency working group or a task 
force? 
 
¶131. (SBU) The National Referral Mechanism 
coordinates prosecution, protection and prevention 
of TIP.  See para. 31.  The government cooperated 
with other governments on investigation and 
prosecution of TIP cases.  The results depended in 
part on the other country's response.  Moldova is 
a member of SECI and SEEPAG, the prosecutors' 
corollary organization to SECI.  On February 8, 
2006, the government ratified an agreement with 
Turkey to combat trafficking as part of a broader 
effort to fight illegal drug trafficking, 
international terrorism, and other organized 
crime. 
 
¶132. (SBU) On June 20, 2007, the government signed 
a bilateral agreement with Slovakia on combating 
organized crime.  In 2007, the government began 
negotiations on bilateral agreements on combating 
TIP with and the UAE.  At an April 26-27, 2007, 
 
CHISINAU 00000108  025 OF 027 
 
 
meeting, senior law enforcement officials from 
Moldova, Romania, and Ukraine negotiated a 
trilateral agreement to establish a headquarters 
in Romania. 
 
¶133. (SBU) Between 2005 and 2007, CCTIP, all 
Moldovan agencies collaborating in the CCTIP task 
force, the Embassy and the U.S. Immigration and 
Customs Enforcement, cooperated in a joint 
international criminal investigation of American 
citizen Anthony Mark Bianchi.  Bianchi was charged 
under a 2003 federal law that makes it illegal for 
Americans to commit sexual crimes against children 
in foreign countries.  The two-year investigation 
resulted in Bianchi's August 2007 conviction at 
the Federal Court in Philadelphia on all counts of 
sexual crimes against minors committed overseas. 
The crime included a TIP charge levied in Moldova 
against a local national who moved children to 
facilitate Bianchi's acts in Moldova. 
 
¶134. (SBU) Parliament ratified: 
 
--ILO Convention 182 concerning the Prohibition 
and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the 
Worst Forms of Child Labor in February 2002. 
--ILO Convention 29 in October 1999; it entered 
into force in March 2001. 
--ILO Convention 105 in March 1993. 
--the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish 
Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and 
Children, supplementing the UN Convention against 
Transnational Organized Crime, on February 17, 
¶2005. 
 
¶135. (SBU) With U.S. Government support, the 
Government of Moldova established in January 2005 
the multi-agency Center for Combating Trafficking 
in Persons (CCTIP), which includes the 
International Anti-trafficking Analytical Bureau, 
and the Victim/Witness Protection Program.  CCTIP 
is a task force, drawn from numerous GOM 
ministries, of prosecutors, investigators, 
analysts and support personnel created to combat 
trafficking in persons.  New offices were 
officially opened in April 2007.  The U.S. Embassy 
installed specially designed office furniture, 
modern IT hardware, and computer software.  CCTIP 
has a fully-equipped modern conference room, which 
is being used as training facility for many 
courses, seminars and international round table 
discussions. 
 
¶136. (SBU) Ref A Question 27 D.  Does the 
government have a national plan of action to 
address trafficking in persons? If the plan was 
developed during the reporting period, which 
agencies were involved in developing it?  Were 
NGOs consulted in the process?  What steps has the 
government taken to implement the action plan? 
 
¶137. (SBU) On  March 26, 2008, the third National 
Plan to Prevent and Combat Trafficking in Human 
Beings for 2008-2009 (National Plan) was passed by 
the government. Drafting of the national Plan was 
coordinated by the National Committee, with input 
from other GOM agencies and NGOs. The National 
Plan is designed to improve the legislative 
framework, create an implementing mechanism for 
existing and adopted laws, raise the awareness of 
the risks of being trafficked and illegal 
migration, decrease the vulnerability of children 
to being trafficked, ensure social assistance, 
extend international co-operation, increase the 
number of cases and convictions for human 
trafficking, offer recovery to the victims of 
trafficking, and ensure non-discriminatory 
treatment.  As of 2008, local multi-disciplinary 
anti-trafficking committees have also been 
 
CHISINAU 00000108  026 OF 027 
 
 
established in all 32 districts of Moldova. 
 
¶138. (SBU) Ref A Question 27 E: What measures has 
the government taken during the reporting period 
to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts? 
 
¶139. (SBU) The Government has not reported on 
measures taken to reduce the demand for commercial 
sex acts. 
 
¶140. (SBU) Ref A Question 27F.  Required of all 
Posts: What measures has the government taken 
during the reporting period to reduce the 
participation in international child sex tourism 
by nationals of the country? 
 
¶141. (SBU) See paras. 70, 92, and 133.  The GOM 
gave exemplary, active, and full-time cooperation 
to the USG on the child sex tourism case of 
Anthony Bianchi.  The assistance, which 
contributed materially to Bianchi's conviction, 
helped send a message to predators that Moldova 
was not a safe place for them. 
 
¶142. (SBU) (Note:  the following three paragraphs 
are an update, promised in para. 3 above, on the 
latest GOM efforts to investigate and prosecute 
crimes related to TIP and illegal migration.  End 
note.)  On January 30, 2009, prosecutors gave us 
follow up information on GOM pledges made in June 
2008 to investigate complicity of GOM officials in 
trafficking.  PGO officials investigating the 
complicity case of former CCTIP Deputy Director 
Ion Bejan are conducting extensive investigations 
of the records of Bejan and his co-workers in 
police offices, Ministry of Interior files 
(personnel records, operative files, and 
informants' reports), PGO and judicial reports, 
and other GOM offices which record citizen 
complaints.  So far, they have found no evidence 
of Bejan's complicity in trafficking.  In 
addition, convicted trafficker Alexandru Covali 
(see paras. 69 and 86), who originally implicated 
Bejan, has been shown to have lied about having 
access to his PGO file ( allegedly Bejan had 
provided Covali access to Covali's file), and to 
have lied about turning over ownership of a car to 
Bejan's son.  Since June 2008, Covali has refused 
to talk to or cooperate with GOM prosecution 
authorities regarding his alleged connections to 
the Bejan case. 
 
¶143. (SBU) Prosecutors also gave us information on 
these other alleged complicity cases against 
government employees: 
 
--On November 25, a mayor was condemned for 
organizing illegal migration and sentenced to five 
years in jail.  The PGO appealed the sentence as 
too lenient.  The former mayor is now in jail. 
 
--The directors of two sports clubs, Armada and 
Camelot, who were convicted of organizing illegal 
migration, could not be convicted:  the de jure 
"victims" (who were de facto beneficiaries of a 
scheme to get visas to the EU by means of 
falsified membership in the clubs) filed 
depositions, but had left Moldova before they were 
able to testify in the trials. 
 
--Two employees of the GOM-private sector joint 
venture Gymnastic Federation forged documents to 
attest to membership of other persons in the 
federation.  The head of the trampoline section 
admitted his guilt and was fined 2,000 Lei ($190). 
The head of the rhythmic section, who also was 
accused of coaching visa applicants for 
interviews, is under prosecution at present. 
(Note:  this seems to be another case of illegal 
 
CHISINAU 00000108  027 OF 027 
 
 
migration.  End note.) 
 
--An employee of the National Philharmonic was 
convicted of organizing illegal migration and 
fined 2,000 Lei.  The judge accepted mitigating 
circumstances--that she had acted alone, and 
turned state witness against a travel company. 
The PGO has appealed the sentence as too lenient, 
and the appeals case is now pending. 
 
--An employee of the Ministry of Information 
Development (which issues passports, birth 
certificates, and national identity cards) was 
convicted of illegally issuing documents, and 
fined 2,000 Lei.  The PGO is appealing the 
sentence as too lenient. 
 
¶144. (SBU) Prosecutors also reported on: 
 
--a case-law initiative which indicts 
organizations as well as individuals, thus 
permitting the investigation of company assets and 
liquidation of companies used to organize illegal 
migration and trafficking. 
 
--effecting the adjournment of cases of illegal 
migration when witnesses have gone overseas, in 
order to avoid acquittal. 
 
--increased use of letters rogatory to foreign 
governments to pursue potential witnesses in 
trafficking and illegal-migration cases. 
 
--fast-tracking of criminal procedures (primarily 
interviews and searches) in suspected trafficking 
cases, before witnesses leave the country or 
otherwise drop out of sight. 
 
¶145. (U) Post's TIP point of contact is Michael 
Mates, 011 373 22 408486, email matesmj@state.gov. 
Post is unable to estimate the total number of 
hours of officer and FSN time devoted to answering 
the 40 paragraphs of questions in Ref A, whether 
indirectly (as part of officer and FSN 
participation in anti-TIP activities) or directly 
(in the collection of specific information for and 
drafting of this report), but notes that the 
effort involved significant input from officers 
and FSNs of the RSO, RLA, and P/E sections. 
 
CHAUDHRY