The criminal trial in which former Deputy Head of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (PA) Adriana Betisor was accused of particularly large-scale passive corruption and abuse of power was terminated on Thursday 15 February at the preliminary hearing stage.

The decision was taken by Judge Alexandru Negru, from the Chisinau Court of Appeals, Buiucani seat, in connection with the existence of the final order, issued by the anti-corruption prosecutor Liliana Partole on September 5, 2020, regarding the refusal to prosecute and the closure of the criminal case, in connection with the non-existence of the fact of the crime established by Article 324 of the Criminal Code (CP) – passive bribery and failure to meet the elements of the crime established by Article 327 CP – abuse of power or abuse of office.

However, the magistrate ordered the examination in a separate criminal case of the charge of interference with the course of justice and criminal prosecution.

“The separate case, concerning the accusation of Adriana Bețișor Serghei of committing the offence under Article 303 para. (3) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Moldova, shall be forwarded to the specialist in charge of the PIGD for random assignment,” reads the reasoned sentence published on Monday, February 19.

At the request of ZdG, the spokesperson of the Prosecutor’s Office for Combating Organized Crime and Special Cases (PCCOCS), Emil Gaitur, conveyed that PCCOCS prosecutors are to analyze the court act in order to adopt a decision.

At the preliminary hearing stage, Adriana Betisor’s defenders presented to the court the order of refusal to prosecute issued on September 5, 2020 by the prosecutor of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (PA) Liliana Partole on the materials of the criminal case 20199249038 whereby the prosecution was refused regarding the alleged acts of prosecutors Adriana Betisor and Vitalie Calugareanu, exposed in the indictment, as well as ordered the closure of the criminal case 20199249038.

“The order of refusal to prosecute issued on 5 September 2020 by PA prosecutor Liliana Partole on the materials of criminal case 1-401/pr19 was also presented, refusing to prosecute the alleged acts of interference in the course of justice by Ion Pleșca, and ordering the closure of criminal case 1-401pr/19.

Also presented was the conclusion no. 10-1585/2022 issued on 27 December 2022, by the investigating judge of the Ciocana Court, Roman Mazureț, which admitted the complaints submitted in the order of Art. 313 CPP RM by the representative of the petitioner Adriana Betisor, lawyer Eșanu Adriana of 29 April 2021 and 13 May 2021, joined in a single proceeding, against the order of the Prosecutor General, Stoianoglo Alexandr of 4 March 2021, by which the order of refusal to initiate criminal proceedings issued on 05. 09.2020 by the Deputy Prosecutor in the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office, Liliana Partole, with resumption of investigations into the matter referred, and against the order of the Prosecutor General, Alexandr Stoianoglo to initiate criminal proceedings of 26 March 2021, in criminal case no. 2021920013″, the decision states.

Thus, the investigating judge previously declared the two orders issued by Stoianoglo null and void, and declared null and void all procedural acts and actions carried out in the case after 4 March 2021, initiated on the basis of invalid orders.

The PCCOCS has completed the prosecution on the case and referred the case to trial in September 2021.

According to a press release issued at the time by the General Prosecutor’s Office, the criminal acts were allegedly committed in 2018, when Adriana Betisor, acting as a prosecutor, allegedly demanded 50 thousand euros from a convict. In exchange for this amount, the prosecutor was going to reclassify his actions and withdraw the charges in the case then pending at the Chisinau Court of Appeal in which he had been sentenced to 12 years in prison for attempted embezzlement of foreign assets and money laundering, both committed in particularly large proportions.

“The sum was allegedly passed to the prosecutor in a place in the capital by the convicted man’s concubine, and as a result, the prosecutor formulated and submitted to the Chisinau Court of Appeal oral allegations, contrary to his own position previously held in the first instance and, contrary to the position of the prosecutor who supported the prosecution at the Chisinau Court of Appeal, dropping the original charges and requesting the release of the convicted man from custody. These circumstances were taken as a basis for the decision of the appeal court and allowed the prosecutor to “honour” his promise in exchange for the extorted money. The defendant is no longer active in the prosecution service. He has not admitted his guilt in the hearing with the prosecutors. At this stage, he is being investigated at large,” said an information note from the Prosecutor’s Office at the time.

Adriana Betisor is the former prosecutor who handled several high-profile cases, such as bank fraud, and also handled the criminal case in which former premier Vladimir Filat was sentenced to nine years in prison, following a complaint filed by Ilan Shor.

She was appointed as a prosecutor in the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office by order of Prosecutor General Valeriu Zubco on 14 June 2011, and on 6 August 2019, she applied for release from the Prosecutor’s Office for “personal reasons”.

Betisor declared herself innocent and rejected the charges against her. Previously requested by ZdG, Adriana Betisor said that “malicious people or people under some pressure are resorting to this slander and serious accusation against her”. Betisor said at the time that the accusations of “corruption” against her were made by a person who had previously made statements against Veaceslav Platon on a case related to the Asito insurance company.

The accusations made against Adriana Betisor on this matter came to the public arena in the summer of 2019, when former Minister of Internal Affairs Andrei Nastase requested the Prosecutor General’s Office to initiate criminal prosecution proceedings against the prosecutor.

At the time, he said that Betisor was guilty of dropping the accusation against Ruslan Dobos in exchange for 50 thousand euros. Representatives of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office then rejected the accusations made in the public arena and said that the institution was “interested in conducting, as a matter of urgency, an internal investigation, in which it will be able to provide all the necessary explanations to refute the accusations made”.

“During the court proceedings, prosecutor Adriana Betisor presented an analysis of the evidence in which she reiterated that the guilt of the accused Dobos Ruslan Vladimir in committing the offences provided for in Article 42 para. (2), para. (3), Art. 27, Art. 191 para. (5) – perpetrator and organizer of attempted embezzlement of foreign assets in particularly large proportions and art. 42 para. (2), par. (3), art. 243 par. (3) letter b) of the Criminal Code – perpetrator and organizer of money laundering committed in particularly large proportions, stressing that “regardless of who the beneficiary is, whether it is for personal interest or for the interest of third parties, this does not play an important role in the criminal legal framework, or the fact that this money was used by someone else, but this was the will of Dobos Ruslan, does not reflect a deviation from the qualification that was made at the outset, namely according to Article 191 para.5 of the Criminal Code”, requesting the court:

• To find Dobos Ruslan Vladimi (…) guilty and impose a sentence of imprisonment in
• sentence of 10 years imprisonment;
• find Dobos Ruslan Vladimir (…) guilty and impose a penalty in the form of imprisonment for a term of 5 years;
• To establish a final sentence for concurrence of offences by accumulation of the total of the sentences imposed on Dobos Ruslan Vladimir in the amount of 15 years’ imprisonment;
• To charge from the account of Dobos Ruslan Vladimir to the account of the civil party, the insurance company “Asito” SA, the amount of the financial means with which it was damaged in the amount of 3 290 000 lei”, according to the indictment.

By the sentence of the Chisinau Court, Buiucani office, of 13 February 2017, Ruslan Dobos was found guilty and sentenced, as charged and according to the indictment prepared by Adriana Betisor, being established the penalty in the form of imprisonment for a term of 12 years, with execution of the sentence in a closed penitentiary.

The sentence was appealed only by Doboș, its legality not being questioned by Adriana Bețișor, “who did not use any appeal in this regard, thus tacitly acknowledging the legality of this court decision”.

Thus, at the Chisinau Court of Appeal, Betisor requested Dobos’ acquittal and sentencing on the basis of Article 196 para. (4) of the Criminal Code – causing material damage by deception or breach of trust, in a particularly large proportion, which constitutes a less serious offence, with his release from custody.