The National Integrity Authority found a substantial difference of over 60,000 euros between the property and income of judge Tatiana Avasiloaie, a magistrate at the Chișinău Court that owns a penthouse in the center of the capital. The Integrity Authority investigation was initiated after an investigation done by ZdG.

ZdG wrote in February 2020 that the magistrate can be seen, daily, while entering a penthouse of over 150 square meters, located in a block of flats in the center of the capital.

In this context, during the control procedures, the National Integrity Authority representatives mentioned that several people were investigated and one of them is a citizen from Breakaway Transnistria.

“From the gathered evidence, it results that due to the friendly relations between the judge’s mother and the person from the Transnistrian region was used as an intermediary, due to the fact that she lives in the uncontrolled area of Moldova. This conclusion was reached from the evidence and information invoked in the journalistic investigation, “where the car can be seen practically daily near the block,” including photographic material and the declaration of a witness,” states the National Integrity Authority representatives.

Likewise, based on the payments for the services provided, made regularly from the salary card of the judge, the Integrity Authority investigators found that the judge is the final beneficiary of the building in the center of the capital. At the same time, the inspector analyzed the officially obtained income and identified that the magistrate did not have the money to possess such a property. As a consequence, the source of the money can be declared illegal.

“The integrity inspector found this substantial difference of over 60,000 euros by analyzing the property of the judge. The inspector ordered the dismissal of the magistrate and notified the General Prosecutor’s Office for committing crimes of illicit enrichment,” stated the Integrity Authority representatives.

Authorities Respond to Another Investigation Published by ZdG

Although ZdG found Judge Avasiloaie’s car parked in front of that block in the morning, she denied that she would live there. “I’m going in to check… To see if the water and the heat are okay,” the judge said.

In the 2020 investigation, ZdG wrote that the market price for such a building exceeds 120,000 euros. However, the building is not found in declarations of wealth and interest submitted by the magistrate, where she indicates a house in Chișinău, built by her parents, but also a car, registered in her father’s name.

The block in which the magistrate can be seen was put into operation in 2015, and a square meter of living space cost, during the construction, approximately 800 euros. In 2020, a square meter cost no less than 1100 euros, according to information placed on the website of the company that built the block. ZdG found that Tatiana Avasiloaie entered a five-room penthouse, located on the seventh floor of this block. The building, with an area of 155 square meters, was bought in February 2017 and registered in the name of Tatiana Șevciuc, a doctor from Breakaway Transnistria.

Although ZdG photographed the magistrate’s car in the evening and in the morning, parked in front of this block, and later caught the magistrate as she entered and left that block, Tatiana Avasiloaie denied that she would live in the penthouse. She told us she was taking care of that apartment.

According to the information on the magistrat.md website, Tatiana Avasiloaie has been a judge since 2012, when she was appointed to the Căușeni Court for a term of five years.

Shortly afterward, in December 2014, he was temporarily transferred, for a period of six months, to Botanica Court in Chișinău. In March 2017, she was appointed to Botanica Court in Chișinău until she reached the age limit.

Prior to becoming a magistrate, Avasiloaie was a lawyer in the General Directorate of Population Documentation, and between 2004 and 2012 she was a senior consultant in the registry and administrative litigation section and in the Supreme Court of Justice.