Three residents of the municipality of Balti were sentenced to 4 and 3 years’ imprisonment with execution for committing the crime of influence peddling against a prosecutor and a judge. The General Prosecutor’s Office (PG) announces that the magistrates of the Balti Court, Central Headquarters, pronounced on Thursday, 12 January, the sentence in a criminal case referred to justice by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (PA), North Office, concerning the actions of a man and two women (as accomplices) who committed the crime of influence peddling.

At the same time, funds amounting to 5,000 euros and mobile phones belonging to the convicts were forcibly transferred to the state free of charge.

In March 2021, according to the PG, on the basis of two complaints, the Territorial Directorate General “North” of the National Anti-Corruption Centre (CNA) opened criminal proceedings on the fact that, between December 2020 and 22 March 2021, the convicted person, acting together with his concubine and another woman, claimed that through some persons they had influence over the judge of the Balti Court of Appeals, Central Headquarters, in the proceedings of which the criminal case of indictment of the convicted person together with three other persons, all accused of committing the crime of keeping with the purpose of alienation of narcotic substances, in particularly large proportions, was under examination.

“At the same time, claiming that they also had influence over the state prosecutor, the three convicted persons demanded from the other two defendants 5,000 euros each (total 10,000 euros) in order to influence both the prosecutor and the judge to issue a non-custodial sentence against them.

On 22 March 2021, the man personally received the first instalment of €5000 from the whistleblower, after which all three participants in the offence of influence peddling were detained by CNA officers. The prosecution in the present criminal case lasted two months and the trial took almost two years.

The defendants did not admit their guilt in court. The state prosecutor requested imprisonment for 4 and 3 years respectively with execution of the sentence in a semi-closed penitentiary and confiscation of the offences for the benefit of the state,” prosecutor’s representatives said.

According to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, by a sentence of 12 January 2023, the court found the three defendants guilty of committing the crime of influence peddling and complicity in influence peddling and imposed a prison sentence on the man for 4 years and on both women for 3 years, with execution in a semi-closed penitentiary, with their removal from the courtroom.

The sentence is not final and may be appealed within 15 days to the Balti Court of Appeal.