UPDATE: Irina Lozovan and Alexandr Nesterovschi, deputies of the “Renaissance” party, affiliated to former fugitive MP Ilan Shor, whose parliamentary immunity was lifted, were detained for 72 hours on Thursday evening, 21 September. The information was confirmed to Ziarul de Gardă by the acting prosecutor general, Ion Munteanu.

Original news:

Irina Lozovan, a “Renaissance” party MP who has been stripped of her parliamentary immunity, was detained on Thursday, September 21, by National Anti-Corruption Centre (NAC) officers and anti-corruption prosecutors. The moment of detention was captured by Nord News journalists.

On Thursday, 21 September, the Parliament granted the waiver of the parliamentary immunity of MPs Irina Lozovan and Alexandr Nesterovschi for the purpose of arrest, detention, search and prosecution of criminal cases. The draft resolutions providing for this were voted on after Parliament received five requests for waiver of the MPs’ immunity signed by the acting Prosecutor General Ion Munteanu.

According to Parliament, two of the requests received concern the waiver of parliamentary immunity for the arrest, detention, search and committal for trial of two criminal cases against Irina Lozovan, on the grounds that she has committed several acts provided for in the Criminal Code: knowingly accepting political party funding from an “organised criminal group”; money laundering committed by an “organised criminal group” on a particularly large scale.

According to information provided by the Prosecutor General’s Office, the “organised criminal group” led by former fugitive MP Ilan Shor initiated the illegal financing of the “Renaissance” political party. According to the Parliament, Irina Lozovan, even though she knew that the financial means were illegal, accepted the financing of the political party in order to consolidate it in the political arena of Moldova in the interest of the “organized criminal group”.

The other three requests received concern the waiver of parliamentary immunity with a view to the arrest, detention, search and committal for trial of two criminal cases against MP Alexandr Nesterovschi on the grounds that he had committed a number of offences under the Criminal Code: Passive bribery (the demand, acceptance and receipt, personally or through other persons, by a person in a position of public dignity of goods not due to him/her for himself/herself, in order to carry out actions in the exercise of his/her office); knowingly accepting the financing of a political party from an “organized criminal group”; illegal financing of political parties, initiative groups of electoral contestants or referendum participants in the normative manner, preparation of financing of a political party from sources prohibited by law, committed in large proportions.

The General Prosecutor’s Office considers that sufficient evidence has been gathered in the course of the criminal proceedings to confirm that Alexandr Nesterovschi committed the offences of which he is accused.

On Thursday morning, 21 September, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (PA), together with the National Anti-Corruption Centre (NAC) and the Intelligence and Security Service (SIS), raided more than 20 locations in Chisinau, Balti, Singerei and Edinet, as well as 9 cars, in criminal cases concerning the illegal financing of political parties, in which MPs Alexandr Nesterovschi and Irina Lozovan are targeted.

During the criminal prosecution, according to a press release of the PA, documents and goods of interest for the criminal cases were found and seized: mobile phones, computers, draft documents and other documents. During the raids, cash in the amount of 189,200 lei, 25,415 euros, 2,430 dollars and 4,500 Swiss francs were seized.