Chisinau, Moldova
A Moldovan court this week absolved a former defense minister of bilking Moldova of money by selling jets too cheaply to the United States. Valery Pasat was jailed for 10 years in January for approving the 1998 sale of 21 MiG-29 planes for $40 million. Prosecutors said Iran would have paid more than $90 million for the planes. But the defense argued that the U.S. had put pressure on Moldova not to sell to Iran, and the appeals court ruled that Pasat was not to blame. He will still serve a five-year sentence for another questionable defense contract. Pasat says he is being scapegoated because of his opposition to current President Vladimir Voronin, a communist.
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