An adviser of the Consular Section of the Moldovan Embassy in Bucharest has been indicted in a case of abuse of office and returned on Friday, December 2, part of the damage caused to the state budget in the amount of 1,796,622 lei, the National Anti-Corruption Centre (CNA) announced.

The official came under the scrutiny of the CNA and anti-corruption prosecutors in 2020, after it became known that he had charged Moldovan citizens for the equivalence of Moldovan driving licences to Romanian ones, which he did not reflect in the diplomatic mission’s accounts. According to the CNA, in 2020, CNA officers seized several documents from the premises of our Embassy in Bucharest as part of a criminal case on abuse of office.

“On December 1, the official was indicted by prosecutors of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, and on December 2, he deposited part of the amount established as damage in the case to the account, opened by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration. Thus, the accused has returned 1 020 000 lei and will have to pay another 776 626 lei.

According to the indictment, while on diplomatic mission as counsellor of the Embassy of the Republic of Moldova in Romania, from 30.01.2017 to 01.08.2020, the accused personally completed, signed and issued to individuals 8929 certificates of confirmation of driving licences, issued by the Public Services Agency of the Republic of Moldova, for the purpose of exchanging Moldovan driving licences for Romanian ones. Out of the total number of documents, 2566 were issued without the presentation by the beneficiaries of the receipt or the copy of the payment order for the amount to be paid into the account. In this way, the official concealed the real number of requests for consular services and appropriated the consular fees and related fees for issuing the certificates. In this respect, the consular fee of 30 Euro and the related fee of 5 Euro for each certificate were not collected in the state budget, in total the amount of 89,810 Euro was calculated, equivalent to 1,796,622 NBL,” the National Anti-Corruption Centre announced.

According to the CNA, on 23.09.2022, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration (MAEIE) was recognized as an injured party and civil party for the collection from the account of the accused of the amount of 89 810 Euro, equivalent to 1,796,622 lei BNM, by way of material damage caused by the act investigated in this criminal case. The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office is conducting the criminal proceedings.