A man sentenced to 4 years in prison for taking bribes in a case initiated by the National Anti-corruption Centre

The Chisinau Court, Buiucani headquarters, convicted the employee of a company responsible for the technical supervision of the reconstruction works at the Centre of Excellence in Transport, for committing the crime of taking bribes. The criminal case was initiated in August 2017 by the National Anti-corruption Centre (NAC) based on a complaint.

During the criminal investigation, it was established that in 2017, the defendant, being the advisor to the administrator of the company designated by the Ministry of Education responsible for the technical supervision of the reconstruction works at the Centre of Excellence in Transport in Chisinau, extorted approximately 480,000 lei from the administrator of the company responsible for carrying out the reconstruction works at that Centre. The amount was requested to facilitate the signing of the final acceptance certificate and represented 10% of the value of the additional reconstruction works.

Between June and August 2017, he received from the company's administrator goods and services worth approximately 38,000 lei (limestone blocks, gravel and transport services) and the amount of 2,000 euros, in two instalments. The defendant was detained when he was receiving the second instalment of 1,000 euros.

During the criminal investigation, which lasted 3 months, the defendant admitted the crime and entered into a plea agreement. However, during the trial, he refused to maintain his statements and requested that the case be examined in the general procedure, not in the special procedure.

The court found him guilty of the crime of bribery and sentenced him to 4 years in prison, to be served in a semi-closed prison. The court also deprived him of the right to hold positions and to carry out technical supervision of construction works for a period of 6 years. In addition, the amount of 37,219.97 lei was confiscated from the defendant's account, representing the value of the illegally obtained goods, and the equivalent of 2,000 euros as funds received in the course of the special investigative measure - control of the transmission of money.

The sentence can be appealed to the Chisinau Court of Appeal within 15 days.

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