The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (PA) announced on Friday, February 10, the termination of the criminal prosecution of a former deputy governor of the National Bank of Moldova (BNM), accused of complicity in the offence of swindling, committed with the use of his work situation, by “a criminal organisation”, as well as money laundering, committed by several persons, with the use of their work situation, by “a criminal organisation”, in particularly large proportions. The accused in question is allegedly the former BNM deputy governor Emma Tăbîrță.

On 22 September 2022, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office referred the episode of the “Bank Fraud” criminal case in which a former governor and another former deputy governor of the BNM were targeted.

At that time, the PA noted that in the part concerning the second former deputy governor of the BNM, at that time the criminal prosecution against her could not be completed, given her location abroad.

“According to the evidence, the prosecutors found that the criminal organization led by Vladimir Plahotniuc was made up of several organized criminal groups, including the organized criminal group led by Ilan Shor. The latter in turn controlled de facto, through intermediaries, the banks BC Unibank SA, BC Banca Socială SA, Banca de Economii SA.

Therefore, during 2014, the deputy governor of the BNM, as a person affiliated with the criminal organization, removed obstacles and provided the necessary tools to carry out the embezzlement of money at the disposal of BC Unibank SA, BC Banca Socială SA and Banca de Economii SA, including by approving in the governing bodies of the mentioned banks persons affiliated with the organized criminal group led by Ilan Șor and by not intervening in the defective activity of these banks,” the PA claims in a statement.

Thus, according to the state prosecutors, these acts would have allowed “members of the criminal organization” to embezzle money in the equivalent of about 2,544,782,105 lei and “to integrate the embezzled money into the legal circuit of Moldova and other countries.”

On 25 January 2023, the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office completed the criminal prosecution of another episode of the criminal case “Bank Fraud” against Vladimir Andronachi and an accomplice.

“Subsequently, we inform that the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office is continuing the criminal prosecution in the case “Bank Fraud” and upon issuance of procedural decisions, we will return with further details,” according to the statement.

At the beginning of January 2023, former Deputy Governor of the BNM Emma Tabîrță and former heads of departments of the institution, Matei Dohotaru, Ruslan Grate and Vladimir Țurcan, were acquitted in the criminal case opened for negligence in service, admitted in 2010-2014, which allegedly conditioned the laundering of 22 billion dollars from the Russian Federation through the bank “Moldinconbank” (Laundromat case n.ed.).