Aircraft

Former Moldovan defence minister Valery Pasat has launched an action to overturn a 10-year jail sentence imposed following his involvement in the 1997 sale of 21 surplus MiG-29 fighters and over 500 air-to-air missiles to the USA for $40 million. Prosecutors charged that Pasat’s actions represented an abuse of office which cost the Moldovan state over $50 million; allegations which he describes as politically motivated. “It would be wrong to claim that the jet fighters were sold at an underrated price only because countries from the so-called ‘axis of evil’ were ready to offer more. We had information at our disposal that the aircraft could eventually get to Iran,” says former Moldovan president Petru Lucinschi in defence of his former colleague.