Former Moldovan President Igor Dodon, who is under investigation in several criminal cases, announced on December 6 the launch of a website on which information on all criminal cases opened against him has been published. According to Dodon, the website is being launched so that “everyone can familiarise themselves with the case materials and form their own opinion based on documents, evidence and real facts”.

In this regard, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (PA) says that this action is “totally political” and aims “to discredit the authority of justice”. The PA says it will monitor how things develop and react as necessary.

“As I promised earlier, I have decided to publish information on all criminal cases opened against me at the behest of Maia Sandu’s regime. We have nothing to hide, and as of today we are launching a website, where everyone can familiarize themselves with the materials of the cases and form their own opinion based on documents, evidence and real facts, but not on one-sided interpretations.

The website www.cazuldodon.com is already available to all those interested. The information on the site will be constantly updated, including the opinions of experts in this field,” former President Dodon announced.

On Dodon’s site, six volumes of the case materials, minutes and other materials can be viewed. Profiles of the accusers Petru Iarmaliuc and Veronica Dragalin have also been published. Information about the witnesses in the cases has also been published on the website. Among them are the former president of the Parliament, Adrian Candu, member of the PDM faction, PAS deputies Lilian Carp and Oazu Nantoi, member of the Civic Congress Mark Tkaciuk, founder of the DA Platform Andrei Nastase, former PDM Prime Minister Pavel Filip and others.

In this regard, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office issued a statement saying that it “will follow the way things develop and will react to the extent that it considers that the authority and credibility of the judiciary is affected”.

“The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office has been informed about the launch of the website of the defendant Dodon Igor. The nature of this action is totally political and aims to discredit the authority of the judiciary. It also denotes a strategy of “washing the face” publicly and putting pressure on witnesses as well as the court. At the same time, the PA institution considers the information placed on the website by the defendant to be incomplete and confirms that there is other material in the file supporting the accusation.

The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office believes that the act of justice must take place in the courtroom, under the strict scrutiny of the law and must be objective, far from populist and political intentions. The institution of the Anti-Corruption Prosecution Office will not allow itself to be drawn into a game of circumstance and will not allow the image and authority of prosecutors to be discredited by defendants. The PA will follow the course of events and will react to the extent that it considers that the authority and credibility of the judiciary is being undermined,” the PA announced.

Former President Igor Dodon, who is accused of committing the crime of passive bribery and organising and accepting political party financing from a criminal organisation, was released from house arrest by a decision of the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ) on 18 November. The former head of state was placed under judicial control for 60 days and banned from leaving the country. The decision came into force on 20 November.

In the so-called “kuliok” file, the former president of Moldova is accused of having demanded almost one million dollars from Vladimir Plahotniuc and Sergei Yaralov in order to negotiate with the Russian Federation, and in the “Energocom” file, the former president is accused of exceeding his official duties.

Igor Dodon was detained on 24 May after anti-corruption prosecutors carried out ten raids for more than ten hours at several locations owned by Dodon and his relatives.

Dodon is the first head of state to be tried for a crime committed while in office. For this reason, the case was referred directly to the SCJ, which by law is competent to try criminal cases involving offences committed by a head of state at first instance.

The criminal proceedings in the case known generically as “kuliok” were resumed on 18 May 2022, one day after the Chisinau CA overturned in full the decision of the Chisinau Ciocana District Court to uphold the previous order not to prosecute the former President of Moldova. The case is based on a video footage of a meeting between Igor Dodon, Vladimir Plahotniuc and Serghei Iaralov in June 2019, in which the PDM leader is seen giving Dodon a black bag in which it was speculated there was money. In that recording, Igor Dodon tells Plahotniuc not to “walk around with his asses” and to pass the bag to Cornel (supposedly Corneliu Furculiță, ed.), because he was going to pay certain salaries. Plahotniuc then told Iaralov to give the money to Costea (supposedly Constantin Botnari, editor’s note) to pass on to Cornel.

The video footage, published by former MP Iurie Renita, is a continuation of the video recording of the meeting of the three in June 2019, when Dodon declared that he receives monthly money from the Russian Federation to finance the PSRM. Later, Dodon publicly stated that he had played a role in those discussions, with the aim of ousting Plahotniuc from government.

Igor Dodon is suspected of illicit enrichment, passive bribery, acceptance of political party financing by a criminal organisation and treason against the Motherland.