The mayor of Goleni village from Edineț district is under criminal investigation by the officers of the General Territorial Directorate North of the NAC and the anticorruption prosecutors, in a passive corruption case. He is suspected that he would have appropriated, by extortion, the monthly salary of an auxiliary employee of the City Hall, as well as the salaries of other employees.

According to the order to start the criminal investigation, from December 2021 until now, the official would have claimed from the employee of the House of Ceremonies at the City Hall to pay him her monthly salary, under the pretext that she would not fulfill her obligations adequately. The woman was threatened with dismissal if she refused to give him claimed sums of money. According to the complainant, in February 2022, the mayor allegedly received from her the value of a monthly salary of 3,000 lei, claiming as well the salaries for work to be provided in the next half a year.

During the investigations, it was established that several persons, including the employee of the House of Ceremonies, were fictitiously employed in auxiliary positions at the City Hall, and their salaries were illegally appropriated by the decision-makers. This morning, searches were carried out at the mayor's office, after which the local elected official was detained for 72 hours. Investigative actions are currently in process for establishing all the circumstances of the case and identifying the full circle of people involved. The criminal investigation is taking place in a case, initiated for passive corruption.

Note: Every person is presumed to be innocent until the final and irrevocable decision of the court is pronounced. The North Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office is conducting the criminal investigation.