Employee of the Rîșcani Praetor’s Sector, Chisinau municipality, convicted for passive corruption and forgery of public documents

On July 24, 2023, the Chisinau Court, Buiucani headquarter, pronounced the sentence in a criminal case referred to justice by the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office, which concerns the actions of the main specialist of the Culture, Youth and Sports Section of the Rîșcani Praetor’s Sector, Chisinau municipality, accused of passive corruption and forgery of public documents (art. 324 par. (1) and 332 par. (1) of the Criminal Code).

The criminal case was started in 2017, by the National Anticorruption Center, and according to the materials, during the years 2014 – 2015, the defendant, acting as the main specialist of the Culture, Youth and Sports Section of the Rîșcani Praetor’s Sector, Chișinău, claimed and received from three citizens monetary means not due to him, in the total amount of 17,750 lei, for the completion and release of the documents regarding the performance of the alternative civil service in respect of a person who did not meet the necessary conditions, in this sense by enrolling in the official documents in the form of the civil service booklets with obviously false data regarding the fulfillment by the holder of the alternative civil service, as well as falsified the official document in the form of the certificate issued to the same holder.

The criminal prosecution in this case lasted about 5 months, the defendant partially admitted her guilt, and the trial of the case lasted almost 6 years.

By the sentence of July 24, 2023, the court found the defendant guilty of committing passive corruption, imposing a sentence of 3 (three) years of imprisonment in a semi-detached penitentiary for women with a fine of 200,000 (two hundred thousand lei), with the deprivation of the right to hold public office for a period of 5 (five) years, the punishment being conditionally suspended for a probationary period of 4 (four) years. The defendant was also found guilty of committing the crime of falsifying public documents, but the criminal trial was terminated due to the intervention of the statute of limitations, and she was released from criminal liability.

At the same time, it was ordered to confiscate from the defendant’s account for the benefit of the state, the countervalue of the monetary means in the amount of 17,750 lei, as goods/currency values resulting from the commission of the crime imputed to her.

The sentence is subject to appeal in the Chisinau Court of Appeal within 15 days.

Note: A person accused of committing a crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty by a final court decision.