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Home / Mass-Media / Events / A former employee of the Embassy of Moldova in Bucharest, investigated for the abuse of office, was charged and returned over 1 million lei to the state budget
A former employee of the Embassy of Moldova in Bucharest, investigated for the abuse of office, was charged and returned over 1 million lei to the state budget
05.12.2022
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A counselor of the Consular Section of the Embassy of the Republic of Moldova in Bucharest was accused in a case of abuse of office and on Friday, December 2, he returned part of the damages caused to the state budget in the amount of 1,796,622 lei. The official came under the scrutiny of the National Anticorruption Center and anti-corruption prosecutors in 2020, after it became known that he allegedly charged taxes from the citizens of the Republic of Moldova for equating Moldovan driving licenses to Romanian ones, which he did not reflect in his accounting diplomatic mission. In 2020, the NAC officers picked up several documents from the headquarters of our Embassy in Bucharest as part of the criminal case initiated on abuse of office.
On December 1, the official was charged by the prosecutors of the Anticorruption Prosecutor's Office, and on December 2 he deposited part of the amount established as damage in the file on the account opened by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration. Thus, the accused returned 1,020,000 lei, with another 776,626 lei to pay.
According to the indictment, during his diplomatic mission as a counselor of the Embassy of the Republic of Moldova in Romania, from 30.01.2017 to 01.08.2020, the accused made, personally signed and issued to natural persons 8929 certificates confirming driving license, issued by the Public Services Agency of the Republic of Moldova, for the purpose of exchanging Moldovan driving licenses for Romanian ones. Out of the total number of documents, 2,566 were issued without the beneficiaries presenting the receipt or the copy of the payment order regarding the entry of the amount into the account. In this way, the official concealed the actual number of requests for consular services and appropriated consular fees and related fees for the issuance of certificates. Accordingly, the consular fee of 30 Euros and the related fee of 5 Euros for each certificate were not collected in the state budget, in total being calculated the sum of 89,810 Euros, the equivalent of 1,796,622 lei.
On 23.09.2022, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration was recognized as the injured party and civil party for the collection from the accused's account of the sum of 89,810 Euros, the equivalent of 1,796,622 lei, as material damage caused by the act investigated in this criminal case.
The Anticorruption Prosecutor's Office is conducting the criminal investigation.