The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (AP) announced on Wednesday, June 14, the completion of the criminal prosecution and referral to court for examination of the merits of the criminal case against a former deputy minister of Economy of the Republic of Moldova, being charged with the offence of false statements (art. 3521(2) of the Criminal Code).

The case concerns former Deputy Minister Vitalie Iurcu, and the first court hearing is scheduled for 22 June 2023.

According to the accumulated materials, the accused, during the years 2016-2019, holding the position of Deputy Minister of Economy of the Republic of Moldova, later also holding the position of Secretary of State of the Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure, would have intentionally entered in his declarations of wealth and personal interests false data regarding the holding of several non-existent bank accounts and the acquisition of financial means in particularly large proportions from the alienation of real estate from a luxury apartment block in mun. Chisinau, in which he invested several assets during 2014-2017. Prosecutors claim that the transactions did not take place in reality, and that the former deputy minister did not intentionally enter in his declarations, for the period 2016-2019, several real estate assets in the form of agricultural land in Orhei r-nul acquired in 2018 and registered in the name of his wife, as well as a plot of land for construction acquired on the territory of Romania, in the amount of over 350 000 lei (MDL).

“At the same time, the subject under investigation intentionally did not indicate in his declarations of assets and interests persons for the period 2017-2019 a luxury vehicle owned through an affiliated company, purchased in 2017 at a price of about 700 000 MDL, 7 accounts opened in a bank institution in Austria with a turnover of over 400 000 euros, as well as assets in the amount of 50 000 dollars held in the share capital of a non-resident trading company in Belize, registered in the name of the wife.

The criminal acts of the former Secretary of State of the Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure were possible to uncover and criminally investigate thanks to the complex of criminal prosecution actions carried out by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office with the support of SPIA, SIS, ARBI, as well as the competent law enforcement bodies of Romania within the framework of rogatory commission requests,” the AP also notes.

The accused admitted the acts committed, but qualified them as actions committed in error, and the criminal case was sent for examination on the merits to the Buiucani Court of Chisinau.

For the offence committed, the law provides for punishment in the form of a fine ranging from 20 000 to 30 000 lei or imprisonment of up to one year, in both cases with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or to exercise a certain activity for a period of 2 to 5 years.

According to the AP, the prosecution was initiated in November 2021 by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office based on a rise.md journalistic investigation.

Ziarul de Gardă previously wrote that Vitalie Iurcu, the former director of Moldtelecom from 2009-2015, later appointed deputy minister of economy in August 2015, managed to amass an impressive fortune during his time as head of one of the largest state companies. He lives in a luxury house, drives a Porsche Cayenne, owns several plots of land in Chisinau worth millions of lei, and through intermediaries, notably a nephew, is involved in the activities of several companies involved in agriculture. Also through his nephew, Iurcu leases half a hectare of forest near Ialoveni, a forest in which, in 2014, even Moldtelecom employees, paid with state money, worked during working hours.