Emil Savin, known as Farmazon and the asphalt king in the Moldavian region, stated during the hearing at the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) that his companies were on the brink of bankruptcy due to blocked payments by the County Council for completed works.
Soragmin, a company controlled by Emil Savin through his daughters, was supposed to receive 3 million euros from the Vaslui County Council for a road asphalt project.
According to DNA prosecutors, Buzatu blocked this payment in order to ensure he receives 10% of the value of the project.
The arrest report against Buzatu includes more details on how the case was orchestrated, with businessman Emil Savin, believed to be one of Buzatu’s loyalists, acting as the key whistleblower and collaborator to the anti-corruption prosecutors. Yesterday, Libertatea revealed the deterioration of the relationship between the two.
Before the prosecutors, Savin claimed that the Vaslui County Council delayed the payment for the works on the strategic road for two years without any justification, and the sum was “a large one, and the fact that the Council did not reimburse this amount put significant pressure on me and my companies, as we were on the verge of bankruptcy.”
“He said he would come for fishing”
The two of them met several times “between May and September 2023,” either at the “Vaslui County Council” or at the Ştefan cel Mare City Hall.
“He told me that he needed to ‘take care of the money’ first, and then we would talk later, saying that he would come for fishing, for a glass of wine. Through his actions, Buzatu implied that he expected a minimum of 10% of the sum that the Vaslui County Council was going to reimburse to SC Soragmin SRL due to his intervention. He also mentioned that he would visit my farm in Cârja, where I also own a recreational lake,” Emil Savin further stated before the DNA prosecutor.
“Officials were following Buzatu’s orders”
Later on, according to the businessman, Dumitru Buzatu contacted him multiple times and said that he wanted to go fishing together, implying a discussion about the payment.
“He assured me once again that he would make the payment and then come to have a talk. It is worth mentioning that Buzatu always told me that he would make the payment, understanding that he was the one coordinating the entire activity within the Vaslui County Council,” Emil Savin added before the anti-corruption prosecutors.
I noticed that, from the moment he said that he would get involved in making the payment, the officials from the Vaslui County Council responsible for the reimbursement took the necessary steps for this action, although they did nothing about it for at least two years.
Emil Savin, also known as Farmazon, during the hearing at the DNA:
The intermediary who planned the fishing trip
According to the arrest report, Dumitru Buzatu planned the fishing trip, for “catching the big fish,” at Savin’s fish farm on the Prut Valley through the Director of Economy of the Vaslui County Social Assistance and Child Protection General Directorate, Ioan Buruiană.
Farmazon also provided this information to the prosecutors. “On September 18, 2023, Ioan Buruiană contacted me by phone and informed me that he wanted to come fishing with Dumitru Buzatu to my farm in Cârja. At the same time, Buruiană told me that Buzatu had some business with me, and we agreed that on March 22, 2023, I would receive them at the lake on my farm in Cârja. Buruiană’s actions made me understand that he was a messenger sent by Buzatu and that Buzatu wanted him to remit a 10% percentage of the sum reimbursed by the Vaslui County Council to SC Soragmin SRL,” stated Emil Savin at the DNA.
Buzatu, on the day of the flagrant: “When I come, we’ll catch fish like pros”
On Friday, the day of the flagrant, the first one to arrive at Emil Savin’s “lake” was Ioan Buruiană.
According to the arrest report, at 2:17 PM, the Economic Director of the Vaslui DGASPC called Savin and informed him that Buzatu was on his way. “Alright! He said he left! I didn’t ask where from, I just said you’ll be here in an hour, he said ‘yes’,” Buruiană told the businessman.
One hour later, realizing that Buzatu hadn’t arrived, the Economic Director of the Vaslui DGASPC called once again. The discussion was intercepted by the DNA:
Dumitru Buzatu: Did you catch anything?
Ioan Buruiană: We each caught a fish!
Dumitru Buzatu: Anything… apart from fish?
Ioan Buruiană: Nothing else! We haven’t gone fishing yet! We haven’t caught anything else!
