Moldovan ex-minister jailed for plane sale

CHISINAU - A court in Moldova has sentenced a former defence minister to 10 years in prison on fraud charges for selling the ex-Soviet state's warplanes too cheaply to the United States.

Valery Pasat was accused of defrauding the state by selling 21 MiG-29 aircraft to the United States in 1997 for $40 ($58) million. Prosecutors said the sale caused a loss of $55 million to state coffers.

"The defendant is recognised as guilty and a punishment of 10 years in prison is handed down," judge Lilia Vasilevici told reporters at the end of the closed trial.

Pasat's lawyer denounced the verdict as political and said his client would appeal.

Pasat, who had more recently worked as a senior manager at Russia's electricity giant Unified Energy System (UES), had said he was innocent.

At the time of his arrest last year, he suggested the charges were political, linked to his statements against Moldova's communist President Vladimir Voronin, a former Kremlin ally who has recently fallen out with Russia.

The conviction could further strain relations between Chisinau and Moscow.

Former Moldovan President Petru Lucinschi, called to testify at the trial, said the planes were sold to meet US concerns that they might otherwise have ended up in Iran.

After the planes were sent to the United States, the US defence secretary of the time, William Cohen, said the sale had kept the aircraft from falling into the hands of "rogue states, including Iran".

- REUTERS