Former director of the Stray Animal Shelter in Balti Municipality detained by the NAC for causing damage of over 360,000 lei to the municipal budget

The National Anti-corruption Centre (NAC) and the Balti Municipal Prosecutor’s Office have announced the conduct of several searches in Balti and Chisinau in a case of embezzlement of foreign property, committed by two or more persons using their official position, which caused considerable damage. The case was initiated following a complaint regarding the allegedly illegal actions of the former director of the Public Institution “Straight Animal Shelter in Balti Municipality”, founded by the Balti Municipal Council.

According to the accumulated evidence, during the period 2021-2023, the director of the Centre, acting with other persons responsible for accounting records and knowing for certain that two persons were fictitiously employed within the enterprise and who never showed up for work, would have calculated salary payments in their names and ordered them to be paid by transfer to bank cards, made for this purpose. Therefore, the head of the Centre would have appropriated the financial means transferred to the salary cards and used them for personal purposes, thus causing considerable material damage to the Balti municipal budget in the total amount of 367,188 lei.

Today, the NAC officers together with the prosecutors from the Balti Municipal Prosecutor's Office are conducting several criminal investigation actions targeting the suspect's car, residence and other locations. At the moment, the suspect is being held for 72 hours and is to be placed in the NAC Detention Centre.

We point out that any person shall presumed innocent until a final and irrevocable court decision is rendered.