The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (PA) announced that on July 29, 2022, it sent to court the criminal case of indictment against the head of the Construction and Roads Department of the Cahul District Council, who was charged with the crime of abuse of office, committed for material interest and for the purpose of achieving other personal interests, which resulted in causing considerable damage to the rights and interests protected by law of legal entities.

More specifically, the person concerned is accused that in June 2021, being responsible according to the duties of his office for planning, supervising and executing works in the field of construction and repairs, using his office situation and acting from other material and personal interests, without informing the representatives of the General Directorate of Education of the Cahul District Council that he is in a conflict of interest with a private company, he drew up the necessary documents for the conclusion of a low-value contract for the execution of repair works at the sanitary block of the “Maria Sarabas” gymnasium in the village of Câșlița Prut, Cahul district.

Therefore, according to the PA, on the basis of these acts, the contract was concluded between the General Directorate of Education Cahul and the private company, which was designated winner of the tender. Moreover, the head of the Construction and Roads Department of the Cahul District Council is also accused that, although he was aware that the repair work on the sanitary block of the educational institution referred to above had not been carried out in accordance with the contractual terms of the contract and through serious deviations from the local estimate and the specifications, he allowed the unqualified work to be carried out with manifest overrunning of the deadlines.

He then drew up the acceptance report on completion of the works without going to the site and persuaded the members of the acceptance committee to sign and thus complete the execution of the planned works, even though they did not comply with the provisions of the contract.

“Therefore, all these actions led to the transfer of undue financial means in the total amount of 245,200.61 lei to the private company, thus causing considerable damage to the budget of the General Directorate of Education of the Cahul District Council, in the total amount of 154,335.86 lei. It should be noted that during the criminal prosecution of the case, the head of the Construction and Roads Department of the Cahul District Council pleaded not guilty, i.e., using his procedural rights, he refused to give any statements on the circumstances of the case under investigation,” the AP announced.

At the criminal prosecution stage, in order to repair the damage caused by the crime, the General Directorate of Education of the Cahul District Council filed a civil action for a total amount of 154 335.86 lei (about 7850 euros).

The defendant is also being prosecuted in another criminal case, which is being handled by prosecutors from the PA’s South Office, where he is charged with two counts of passive bribery and fraud, committed in particularly large proportions.

“In these two criminal cases indicated above, the head of the Construction and Roads Department of the Cahul District Council has been granted provisional release under judicial control for a period of 60 days,” the AP announced.

Moreover, according to the anti-corruption prosecutors, in order to repair the damage caused by the crime, as well as to guarantee the execution of the fine, at the request of the prosecutors, with the authorization of the investigating judge, a seizure was applied to the property owned by the head of the Construction and Roads Department of the Cahul District Council, namely: ½ share of the common property in the estate, on 17 building plots, worth a total of 1 836 218, 93 lei (about 93,560 euros), for ½ of their price.

According to the official website of the Cahul District Council, the head of the Construction and Roads Department of the Cahul District Council is Pavel Maximenco, and according to the list of councillors in the Cahul Municipal Council, Pavel Maximenco would have become a councillor on the lists of the Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova.