Previously detained for corruption and later suspended at the prosecutors’ request, the head of the Saint Lazarus cemetery Pavel Eni was reinstated in office. ZdG wrote in September 2020 that agents of the National Anti-Corruption Center carried out searches at several locations in Chișinău and detained four people from the administration of Saint Lazarus Cemetery of the Municipal Enterprise “Funeral Services Plant.”

The detained persons were suspects for demanding extra money to the state tax from the people who were going to bury their relatives. The members of the criminal group charged up to 350 euros on top of the state tax of 50 euros for a burial place.

Last Thursday, the Chișinău Court Ciocana headquarters admitted Pavel Eni’s lawyer’s request to cancel the order of office suspension. The judge based his decision on the Labor Code’s provisions, arguing that Eni’s suspension can be valid only after the criminal case is sent to the court.

The National Anticorruption Center told ZdG that there are over 40 defendants in this case and that by the end of February, the case would reach the court. The National Anticorruption Center applied seizures amounting to 110,000 euros in the criminal cases involving several persons within the administration of St. Lazarus Cemetery. The prosecutors seized rooms, residential and non-residential buildings, means of transport, and a construction site.

The Chișinău municipal authorities have appealed to the Chișinău Court of Appeal challenging the February 18 Chișinău Court’s decision by which the head of the Saint Lazarus Cemetery was reinstated.