Seven individuals, including a former deputy director of the MIA's Material Reserve Agency, have been charged with causing damage to the state with approximately 4 million lei

Seven people, including four civil servants, one of them being the deputy director of the Material Reserve Agency of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (ARM) and three representatives of a company, were accused in a fraud case investigated by the NAC and the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office. They are accused of damaging the state with approximately 4 million lei.

According to the materials, in 2023, the Materials Reserve Agency organized an auction for the purchase of a type of metal material worth approximately 3.2 million lei. Several companies participated in the auction, and initially, one company was named the winner. Another participating company contested this decision, claiming that the winning bid did not meet the technical requirements. The National Complaints Agency accepted this complaint and overturned the original decision, allowing the appellant to win the tender.

Between September 14-19, 2023, the four civil servants from the Material Reserve Agency, in agreement with the three representatives of the winning company, went to its warehouse to check the materials. Without ensuring that the economic agent had in stock the necessary materials according to the technical specifications for the profiled sheet, they only carried out a formal inspection of the storage space. However, they officially designated that company as the supplier for the purchase of the material, although they knew for sure that the said economic agent did not have the goods in stock according to the established technical specifications.

On October 2, 2023, the director of the Material Reserve Agency, being misled by the four subordinates, signed a contract with the winning company for the purchase of 25,000 m2 of material, worth 3,712,500 lei. The delivered materials, however, did not comply with the technical requirements set out in the contract, such as the thickness or the amount of zinc.

On November 29, 2023, the defendants signed a document attesting to the receipt of the materials, although they did not meet the technical specifications. This allowed the supplier company to collect the amount of the contract, thus causing damage to the state in the amount of 3,712,500 lei.

The accused did not admit their guilt, the criminal case being sent for substantive examination to the Chisinau Court, Buiucani headquarters. For the crime committed, the law provides punishment in the form of imprisonment from 8 to 15 years, with a fine in the amount of 750,000 to 1,000,000 lei and with the deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or to exercise a certain activity on a term of up to 5 years.

At the same time, in order to guarantee the execution of the fine and possible confiscation, the assets owned by the accused were seized.

The Material Reserves Agency of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was recognized as an injured party, a civil action was filed with the support of the Agency for the Criminal Assets Recovery Agency (CARA)of the NAC.

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