Moldova tight-lipped about alleged arms sale to anti-Gaddafi forces
CHISINAU. Sept 13 (Interfax) - The chief of Moldova's armed forces has declined to disclose who has bought a shipment of old Moldovan weapons to be collected by an allegedly Armenian aircraft that arrived in Moldova from Libya on Monday evening.
"This is prescribed by the terms of the contract under which the batch of armaments from the arsenals of the Moldovan National Army was sold," Brig. Gen. Iurie Dominic told Interfax on Tuesday.
He confirmed that the plane had arrived from Benghazi, Libya.
"However, it doesn't belong to Libya but is an aircraft of an Armenian civilian company. The aircraft was working there under a contract. It arrived in Moldova under a contract with a company based in Latvia. That company has a special license and international certificates that permit buying weapons," he said.
"We can't disclose the buyer of the weapons," the general said. "I can only say that it is a clean bargain and that the end customer is a recognized player in the armaments market and is well known to the Moldovan top leadership."
Dominic said the money to be raised via the deal would go into Moldova's state treasury and that one-fifth of the sum would be used to re-equip and modernize the armed forces.
"They were old armaments, and the Moldovan military has no means of testing them. And if weapons and armaments are old, they cost a lot to store, not to say they are dangerous," he said.
As the plane came from Benghazi, Moldovan media surmised it would take the weapons back to Libya.
Moldova's Defense Ministry did not deny allegations in the Moldovan media that the arms would be sent to Benghazi to be handed over to anti-Gaddafi forces in Libya.
The ministry said in a statement that it had sold "National Army armaments that are past their service life" to a company it did not name.
"The contract between the two sides is in full conformity to the law," the ministry said. "The list of National Army assets that were offered for sale" was approved by a parliamentary resolution, it said.
The ministry also said the aircraft would take off from the Marculesti International Airport by Tuesday evening.
The jet initially landed at the Chisinau international airport on Monday evening as the Marculesti airport, which is under Defense Ministry jurisdiction, has no permission to accept aircraft in the nighttime. The plane flew on to Marculesti on Tuesday morning.