Moldovan ex-prime minister charged over airport concession

Moldovan former Prime Minister Iurie Leanca has been charged with abuse of power over a concession that gave control of the country's main airport to a businessman now in exile, a senior prosecutor said on Tuesday. Veronica Dragalin, head of Moldova's anti-corruption prosecution office, said a former economy minister and six other former officials also faced similar charges in a criminal case which she said had been referred to court. All the accused pleaded not guilty, she told a news conference in the Moldovan capital Chisinau. The 2013 concession handed control of Chisinau International Airport for a 49-year term to a company associated with politician and businessman Ilan Shor, who fled Moldova in 2019 after the election of pro-Western President Maia Sandu. An appeals court ruled last November that control of the airport should return to the state.<br/>