The administrator and the driver of a transport company, who in April 2022 did not declare 240 thousand euros and $8,000 to customs, following their referral to the dock, have been sentenced to four years in prison, the Prosecutor General’s Office (PG) informed on Monday, February 20.

According to the sentence of the Cahul Court, the truck that was to arrive in Turkey and in which the undeclared money had been hidden, was subject to confiscation as goods used in the smuggling.

“However, the court refused the request of the Prosecutor’s Office for Combating Organised Crime and Special Cases (PCCOCS) to confiscate the money involved in this crime as well.

According to the prosecutors, the rejection of this request is contrary to both the law and the judicial practice of confiscating for the benefit of the state the money and goods that were the subject of the smuggling. Moreover, the Criminal Code also provides for the confiscation of “any proceeds from the recovery of these goods.” Therefore, PCCOCS prosecutors will appeal the sentence in part relating to the confiscation of the €240,000 and $8,000,” prosecutors’ representatives announced.

The defendants are from Chisinau and are aged 47 and 51, according to the PG. The two are now in state custody, and pending a final court ruling, they are presumed innocent under the law.