The Taraclia district president, construction commission head and public procurement specialist targeted in bid-rigging and abuse of office case

Officers of the National Anti-corruption Centre (NAC) and prosecutors of the Cahul Municipality Prosecutor's Office are conducting searches today in a criminal case based on alleged abusive actions committed by the Taraclia district president, in collusion with the construction commission president and a public procurement specialist.

According to the accumulated materials, the targeted individuals are suspected of rigging public procurement procedures and favoring the award of contracts to a company managed in the shadows by the construction commission head, through intermediaries. The documentation identified several episodes in which the suspects negotiated prices for certain objectives and prepared expense estimates with fictitiously increased volumes, in the interest of companies affiliated with the construction commission head. The small-value contracts mostly concerned repair works at educational institutions, and the estimated damage caused to the public budget for 2025 alone amounts to approximately 3 million lei.

At this stage, searches are being carried out in the offices, homes and cars of the suspects. They are to be investigated at liberty, and the criminal investigation continues in order to establish all the circumstances of the case, identify the entire circle of people involved and accumulate the evidence necessary to adopt a legal solution.

We remind that any person shall benefit from the presumption of innocence and is considered innocent until a final court decision is rendered.