Prosecutors from the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (PA) carried out searches at the headquarters of the Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova (PSRM) on Friday, November 11, as part of the criminal case on the investigation of the offences of accepting PSRM funding from a criminal organisation and from outside the Republic of Moldova, falsifying reports on the financial management of the PSRM, falsifying official documents and money laundering in particularly large proportions.

According to the PA, all these crimes were committed by an organized criminal group during 2018-2020, a criminal case in which the country’s former president, Igor Dodon, is accused and charged.

“The necessity of authorizing and carrying out the search was determined by the fact that the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office had previously ordered the collection of objects relevant to the criminal case by order, but the PSRM representative denied the existence of the documents.

Subsequently, a witness confirmed that such documents were drawn up in the work of PSRM bodies, which is why obtaining them or other documents and objects indicating that such documents were drawn up could be administered only by conducting a search,” anti-corruption prosecutors explain.

The PA notes that the searches were not carried out in the offices of PSRM members of Parliament.

“As a result of the search, the following were seized: documents and writings, computer devices of the PSRM accountant and other objects relevant to the criminal case to be assessed in conjunction with all the evidence.

“We mention that there were no grounds provided by law to detain persons. PSRM deputies were not restricted in their freedom to attend the Parliament session on 11.11.2022,” the PA announced.

ZDG previously wrote that former Speaker of Parliament Zinaida Greceanii and Socialist MP Corneliu Forks are defendants in the “kuliok” case. According to sources of the Guard Newspaper, they are also suspected of the crimes of accepting PSRM funding from a “criminal organization” and falsifying reports on the financial management of the political party.

Igor Dodon, the former president of Moldova, is also a target in the case.

On Monday, 31 October, the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) continued its preliminary hearing in the case known generically as “kuliok” or “black bag”, in which former Moldovan President Igor Dodon is accused of having demanded almost a million dollars from Vladimir Plahotniuc and Sergei Yaralov to negotiate with the Russian Federation.

On October 6, 2022, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office announced the indictment of former President of the Republic of Moldova Igor Dodon in the crime of passive bribery and organizing and accepting political party financing from a criminal organization, committed during his term as President of the Republic of Moldova in June 2019.

The two-count case against Igor Dodon has been submitted to the CSJ for examination on the merits. According to the provisions of Article 39 of the Criminal Procedure Code, the CSJ is competent to judge in first instance criminal cases concerning crimes committed by the President of the Republic of Moldova, the Prosecutor’s Office said.

“According to the charges brought against Igor Dodon, the latter is accused of having, in order to promote the interests of Vladimir Plahotniuc and Sergei Yaralov, who created and led a criminal organization and who had an interest in controlling political, social and economic processes in Moldova, as well as in evading criminal liability in the Russian Federation, demanded and accepted from them money in the amount of $600,000 to $1,000,000. This amount was demanded by Igor Dodon to pay the current expenses of the political party “Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova” (PSRM), including the salaries of the employees of the same party,” reads the statement published by the PA.