A man from Chisinau, convicted of influence peddling when issuing a driver’s license
On July 20, 2023, the Chisinau District Court, Buiucani headquarters pronounced the sentence in a criminal case referred to justice by the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office, concerning the actions of a man, accused of influence peddling (art. 326 para. (2) letter d) of Penal Code).
The criminal case was started in 2018, by the National Anticorruption Center on the basis of the address to the director of the Public Services Agency (PSA) related to the abuses exercised by the members of the driver qualification commissions between September 2017 and January 2018.
According to the materials, in December 2017, the defendant, a lawyer, claimed and received from a citizen the sum of 650 euros, for the qualification “admitted” to the theoretical and practical tests in order to obtain the driver’s license of category “B”, under the pretext of exercising influence on public persons within the Chisinau Transport Registration and Driver Qualification Office of the PSA.
After sending the money, during the theory test of the category “B” driver’s license exam, the examiner approached the candidate several times and whispered the correct answers to the questions in the test, and then, without the latter supporting the practical test of the exam, he was issued a provisional driver’s license for category “B”.
The criminal prosecution in this case lasted about 3 years, the defendant did not admit his guilt, and the trial of the case lasted 2 years.
By the sentence of July 20, 2023, the court found the defendant guilty of committing influence peddling, imposing a penalty in the form of a fine of 175,000 lei, with the application of the preventive measure – the obligation not to leave the country, until the sentence become definitive, to ensure the execution of the sentence and the special confiscation for the benefit of the state of the monetary means in the amount of 650 Euro.
At the same time, it was ordered to reject as unfounded the civil action submitted by the prosecutor regarding the cancellation of the driver’s license issued illegally in the name of the person concerned, on the basis of which the sentence will be appealed to the Chisinau Court of Appeal within 15 days, being considered by the prosecutor unfounded on the civil side.
Note: A person accused of committing a crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty by a final court decision.
