NAC Synthesis: Fines of over 11 million lei, 50 searches in the north of the country, seizures of criminal assets worth over 2 million lei and freezing orders on a bank account of 3.5 million lei
The National Anti-corruption Centre (NAC) has reported, for the past week, several actions in cases of influence peddling, passive and active corruption and passive electoral corruption. In the north of the country, the NAC officers and prosecutors carried out over 50 searches targeting a deputy mayor, a head of the Education Department, heads of institutions subordinate to the Balti City Hall and four inspectors of the National Road Transport Agency. Following the searches, a deputy mayor of the municipality Bălți and the deputy head of the Education, Youth and Sports Department of the City Hall were detained, and later one of the accused was placed in preventive arrest for 30 days. In another case, four ANTA employees were detained and placed in preventive arrest for 30 days in a case of systematic claim of illicit remuneration from transporters. In both cases, following the searches, considerable sums of money were detected and seized, in different currencies, the origin of which is yet to be established. Also, at the end of last week, the amount of fines applied on the basis of reports received from the Police, regarding the finding of the contravention provided for in art. 47 first Contravention Code – “passive electoral corruption” reached 11,008,750 lei.
Regarding the cases managed by the NAC, the courts have pronounced sentences of conviction. In a criminal case, a former mayor of Cantemir, investigated for passive corruption and forgery of public documents, was sentenced to over 7 years in prison with a fine of 400,000 lei. In another case, the head of a Public Food Enterprise, investigated by the NAC, was sentenced to 4 years and 6 months in prison with a fine of 575,000 lei for 3 episodes of passive corruption. At the moment, 19 people, arrested in the cases opened by the NAC, are placed in prisons. During the reference period, criminal investigation officers opened 9 criminal cases and proposed 6 cases to prosecutors for resolution.
The Criminal Assets Recovery Agency (CARA) of the NAC seized a means of transport worth over 2 million lei last week, based on delegations from the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (AP). It was seized in a case of abuse of office. At the same time, seizures of assets worth over 5.5 million lei were confirmed by court decisions and a freezing order was issued on a bank account in the amount of approximately 3.5 million lei.
In the field of corruption prevention, the Legislation Directorate finalized and submitted to the authors 15 expert reports and 6 opinions on draft normative acts last week. During the mentioned period, 2 anti-corruption trainings were organized. The NAC notifies the completion of 3 operational analyses, the release of 104 integrity records, the reception of 39 calls to the national anti-corruption hotline and the registration of 1,439 materials in the Centre’s Chancellery.