Former MoldATSA director Dumitru Vangheli, who was dismissed following a media investigation into alleged falsehoods in his CV, reportedly made inaccurate statements about his arrest in the United States in 2006, where he had travelled under the Work and Travel programme.
Although Vangheli assured the public that US authorities had issued him a minor traffic penalty for speeding, Jurnal.md has uncovered documents that appear to contradict his account. In fact, he was allegedly detained in connection with a criminal case after driving a car without a valid driving licence. Vangheli was subsequently released on bail and disappeared from the United States, after which American authorities sought him for the next 11 years.
He was also allegedly accused in the same case of issuing a bad cheque.
The story dates back to May 22, 2006, when Dumitru Vangheli, a 21-year-old Moldovan student in the United States, was reportedly detained, according to a website providing general information about people arrested in the country. The reason for his detention is not specified there. However, when the information later appeared in the media, Vangheli said that American police had issued him a traffic penalty for exceeding the speed limit.
He Allegedly Fled Shortly After His Release
However, documents from the case examined by Jurnal.md indicate that he once again sought to avoid accountability. According to records maintained by Crystal Sconiers, chief clerk of the court and financial controller for Walton County, Florida, the Moldovan national was charged with driving a vehicle without a valid licence, an offence covered by Section 322.03(1) of Florida law.
Sought by US Police Since 2006
The same source provides a list of the main judicial decisions in the case. These records indicate that, after being taken into custody, Vangheli was released on $500 bail. This meant he undertook to pay that amount if he failed to appear at subsequent court hearings.
It is unclear whether the defendant left the United States immediately or at a later date. However, he subsequently failed to appear in court and could not even be located by his bail guarantors.
This is described in a court order issued on October 20, 2006, forfeiting the bail in favour of the State of Florida. The same document ordered his immediate arrest and set a new bail amount of $750, payable in cash. As a result, Vangheli was sought by US police from that point onward.
The Walton County court portal records several entries over the following two months concerning a cheque payment made by Vangheli and a fine, although the exact circumstances are unclear. These may have been additional penalties imposed on the missing defendant, as on December 5, 2006, the court issued a D6 order against him for failing to appear at hearings and pay fines, Jurnal.md further reports.
According to official information, in Florida, an order of this type instructs the state’s Department of Highway Safety to suspend a traffic offender’s driving licence indefinitely.
Because the defendant could not be located, the case remained dormant for more than a decade. In 2010, Dumitru Vangheli had already emigrated from the Republic of Moldova to Canada, according to a former friend of his.
On March 31, 2017, amid a backlog of unresolved cases, Walton County Court revoked all arrest warrants for traffic infractions and offences issued before January 1, 2012, due to the expiration of the applicable limitation periods.
Vangheli’s case was formally closed on August 5, 2021, under the aforementioned order. The cancelled documents also included an arrest warrant related to a bad cheque, although the circumstances are unclear. In any case, this decision did not acquit Dumitru Vangheli; it meant that he was no longer subject to prosecution because the limitation period had expired.
Jurnal.md sought an explanation from the former MoldATSA director, but he did not respond to calls or messages. The publication says it will publish his comments if he responds.
Dumitru Vangheli was dismissed from MoldATSA on June 22 after it emerged that he had obtained the position using an allegedly falsified CV. The claims in question included that he had obtained a pilot’s licence from one of Canada’s best-known flight academies and later worked as a commercial airline pilot for Air Canada. It was also established that he had boasted, including in the media, that he was the nephew of writer Spiridon Vangheli, a claim that was also reportedly false.
In his asset declaration submitted at the end of his tenure at MoldATSA, Vangheli reported receiving a monthly salary of more than 107,000 lei from the state-owned enterprise that year. He also declared ownership of six cars, cryptocurrency investments worth more than $1.1 million and seven loans taken out in recent years.
At the height of the scandal, Dumitru Vangheli left the Republic of Moldova on June 28, two days before National Anticorruption Centre searches at MoldATSA in a case concerning abuse of office. Although he does not hold any formal status in that criminal case, he returned home at the beginning of this month.
According to Dinu Plângău, head of the parliamentary inquiry committee examining the activities of state-owned enterprises, Vangheli had requested a meeting with him before returning to the country.