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New hearings on secret arms deal to Armenia held in Moldovan parliament

30 September 2011 13:10 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Habil Suleymanzadeh â€“ APA. New hearings on secret arms deal of Moldova to Armenia were held in Moldovan parliament. APA reports quoting â€œNovosti Moldoviâ€ information agency that the MPs asked many question to Defense Minister Vitalie Marinuta on scandalous arms deal. Though the Defense Minister confirmed the arms deal, he tried to assure the MPs that the arms deal was legal and corresponded to all international. But during the dialogue, it was revealed that no international observer participated during arms transfer. Minister said that â€œtender has a secret characterâ€ and hadnâ€™t announced the buyer. Minister also said that the working life of weapon has expired. Moldovan Minister avoided responding the question on who had passed a final decision on arms deal.

Acting President of Moldova Marian Lupu has dismissed Chief of the General Staff of the National Army of Moldova, General Jurie Dominic with a view to enhance the military discipline and to avoid further violations of the military regulations. The reason of General Dominicâ€™s dismissal is a disclosure of secret arms deal with Armenia. According to Moldavian press, the dismissal has followed a big scandal. On Wednesday the Moldova Parliament held closed-door hearings concerning the Libyan plane arriving in Chisinau from Benghazi on Sept 12 and departing later with 60 tons of arms onboard. Moldovan Defense Minister Vitalie Marinuta reportedly admitted that the arms were sold to Armenia. His spokesman said that the cargo consisted of outdated artillery and antitank systems. The Moldovan Government claims that it was unaware of the deal, while the military authorities say that they acted on the Governmentâ€™s instruction.

The investigation had been launched on the issue.

Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov said that the countries, which sold offensive weapon to Armenia, made a great mistake.