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Home / Mass-Media / Events / Court of Appeal reviewed the acquittal in a case of influence peddling and passive corruption, instrumented by the NAC and anti-corruption prosecutors
Court of Appeal reviewed the acquittal in a case of influence peddling and passive corruption, instrumented by the NAC and anti-corruption prosecutors
24.02.2023
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The criminal panel of the Chisinau Court of Appeal, admitted the appeal declared by the prosecutor of the Anticorruption Prosecutor's Office (AP), against the sentence of the Chisinau Court, Buiucani headquarters, of November 22, 2021, and sentenced one of the defendants to 4 years in prison with serving the sentence in a semi-closed penitentiary with a fine in the amount of 100,000 lei, and two other defendants were fined 325,000 lei and 175,000 lei, respectively.
The criminal case was started in July 2017 by the National Anticorruption Center (NAC), in which the activity of a group of people was documented, suspected of having brokered the completion of documents confirming the authenticity, apostille, recognition and equivalence of study documents, and for this would have influenced public figures from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research of the Republic of Moldova, the Ministry of Health and, as the case may be, the diplomatic representations of other states in the Republic of Moldova. For the services provided, which consisted of issuing the documents in a few hours or days, the persons claimed and received 50 euros each for one document, the amounts claimed and received for the entire set of documents varying between 250 euros and 1500 euros.
The criminal prosecution in this case lasted 3 months. Although at the stage of the criminal investigation the accused entered plea agreements, during the judicial investigation the defendants renounced them and did not admit their guilt, and the trial of the case in the first instance lasted 4 years and 1 year in the Court of Appeal Chisinau.
By the decision of the Criminal Board of the Chisinau Court of Appeal, dated February 22, 2023, the sentence of the Chisinau District Court Buiucani, dated November 22, 2021 was partially overturned and a new decision was issued on the case. Thus, one of the defendants was found guilty of committing the crime of active corruption and influence peddling, being given a final sentence in the form of imprisonment for a term of 4 (four) years, with serving the sentence in a semi-closed penitentiary and with a fine of 100,000 lei.
The other two defendants were found guilty of committing influence peddling crimes, and were fined 325,000 lei and 175,000 lei, respectively.
It was also ordered to confiscate the amount of 450 euros, the amount of 70 US dollars and the amount of 8600 lei, transmitted under the control of the NAC and the AP.
The reasoned decision will be pronounced on May 1, 2023.