Editor's note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on the impact of corruption and various countries' efforts to combat it.
Last month, the Moldovan Parliament voted to dismiss the government of Prime Minister Valeriu Strelet. The move came weeks after former Prime Minister Vlad Filat, who was also a former leader of the ruling coalition member Liberal Democratic Party, was arrested as part of an investigation into $1 billion that went missing from the country’s banking system.* In an email interview, Balázs Jarábik, a nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, discussed Moldova’s fight against corruption.
WPR: How widespread is the issue of corruption in Moldova, and in what areas is it most felt?