The courts have applied minimum sanctions in cases of persons convicted of acts of corruption, and this refers to both fines and sentences of deprivation of liberty or deprivation of the right to hold certain positions. The conclusion derives from a study, carried out by the Analytical Directorate of the National Anticorruption Center, on the criminal and contraventional judicial practice of applying fines on acts of corruption.

According to the National Anticorruption Center officers, out of the total number of court rulings, adopted on corruption cases, in the period 2018-2020, 987 criminal cases were analyzed, of which 777 cases or 79% ended with convictions of persons, 90 cases or 9% – with fines, and in 120 cases or 12% – the cases were closed. The analysis of the data of the sentences on the criminal files found the application of the fine in a proportion to 73% of all convictions (566 out of 777).

Of these, “imprisonment with a criminal fine” was applied in 22% of all cases analyzed, “criminal fine with the right to perform certain functions or exercise a certain activity” – in 18% of all cases analyzed, and the criminal fine with both mentioned criminal punishments was applied a little over 5% of all the analyzed cases. Of all the cases of application of criminal fines on cases of corruption and corruption connections, 64 percent of this information was below the minimum limit of this criminal law, in 26 percent the minimum value was applied, in 9% it was applied the average value, and in 1% it was applied to the maximum.

In only 2 cases it was applied that exceeds the maximum value of the criminal norm.

The same situation is attested in the case of misdemeanor cases. Out of the total number of 211 contravention cases analyzed, in 51 cases or 24% persons were found guilty, and in 158 cases or 75%, the contravention proceedings were ended. Thus, out of the 51 cases of application of the contravention fine on acts of corruption, in 26 cases or 51%, a minimum value of a contravention rule was applied; in 10 cases or 20%, the element between the minimum and average threshold presented by the contravention norm was applied.

The maximum amount of the fine was applied only in 2 cases of excess of power or exceeding the duties or 4%. In 29 cases or 57%, a minimum term of 3 months was applied, in 4 cases a term of 4 months was applied (between minimum and average), in 9 cases the average term of 6 months was applied, in 2 cases it was applied the term of 10 months (between average and maximum), and in 6 cases the maximum term of 12 months was applied.