The court found the border guard guilty of committing the crime of passive corruption, having applied punishment of imprisonment for 5 years suspended with the fine of 300 000 lei, with the deprivation of the right to hold office with the special statute within the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the legal bodies under its subordinance for 7 years.

The criminal case was initiated on June 23, 2021, following the self-referral of the criminal investigation body of the National Anticorruption Center. Knowing that the victim did not comply with the regime of auto-isolation, the defendant claimed and received, through extortion undue money, in the amount of 50 euros not to check the authenticity of the presented «COVID-19» PCR test.

The criminal investigation in this criminal case lasted for about 6 months, the defendant did not recognize her guilt and the trial lasted about 1 year and 3 months. At the same time, the financial means received from the proceedings of crime (the amount of 50 euros) were confiscated and transferred to the state property. The sentence has the right to appeal at the Chisinau Court of Appeal within 15 days.

We remind that on September 29, 2021, fifteen employees of the General Inspectorate of Border Police are being investigated by the NAC and anti-corruption prosecutors, within a complex dossier, initiated on June 23, 2021, that consists of 59 episodes, including 38 cases of bribery claims and 21 of other offences. The criminal case was initiated following the operative information that resulted in the identification of the entire corruption scheme. The subdivisions of the Security and Intelligence Service, as well as the General Inspectorate of Border Police were involved in the documentation process.

As the result of the operative actions, it was discovered that the employees of the Border Police Directorate “Chisinau International Airport”, while exercising professional duties, in the context of the restrictions imposed by the epidemiological situation, created and implemented a scheme of obtaining illegally money from the passengers who had been leaving the country and who were suspected of presenting «COVID-19» PCR tests with the signs of falsification. Thus, the involved border guards allegedly accepted and received systematically from the citizens who crossed the RM border, upon departure, bribes between 50 -100 euros.

It was also found out that the GIBP employees, while exercising their duties, allegedly extorted money from different people, both Moldovan citizens and foreigners, who intended to cross the state border of the Republic of Moldova through the Chisinau International Airport, upon departure, not to draw any minutes for not complying with measures of preventing and combating epidemic diseases and public health, established by the competent authorities and of violating the rules of residence in the Republic of Moldova.