The Prosecutor’s Office for Combating Organized Crime and Special Cases (PCCOCS) announces that it has sent to trial the criminal case of indictment of former notary Olga Bondarciuc, extradited to Chisinau from Belgium in July. According to the PCCOCS, she is charged on two counts. The first concerns the crime of forgery of public documents in the interest of a criminal organization. The second count relates to knowingly making false statements as a witness in a criminal trial in connection with the commission of a particularly serious crime.

“According to the law, the first offence is punishable by a fine of between 1350 and 2350 conventional units or imprisonment of between 1 and 6 years, in both cases with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or to exercise a certain activity for a period of between 5 and 10 years; and the second provides for a fine of between 550 and 1150 conventional units or imprisonment for up to 5 years, in both cases with (or without) deprivation of the right to hold certain offices or to engage in certain activities for a term of up to 3 years”, the PCOCS reports.

The offences were investigated directly by PCCOCS prosecutors with the support of SIS officers. According to PCCOCS representatives, law enforcement officials have established that the accused notary acted in the interest of a criminal organisation, in order to cover up its criminal acts and to create false leads in the investigation of a case concerning the theft of funds from the Moldovan banking system. Specifically, he entered false data on the completion of notarial deeds in official documents.

“At the same time, the notary was also investigated for the fact that in February 2018 he concealed from the investigating authority his own notarial actions when he was heard as a witness in a criminal case (within the files generically called ,,Bank fraud”). The law enforcement officers specify that the file in which he was heard at the time concerned the provision of notarial services in the interest of the criminal organization – which he concealed – for some non-resident companies, through which money stolen from the banking system of Moldova would have been laundered”, PCCOCS also announces.

After the extradition from Belgium, the Ciocana office of the Chisinau Court ordered the notation to be placed under house arrest, even though the PCCOCS prosecutors had requested an extension of the pre-trial detention.

On September 28, 2021, the Moldovan police announce that Olga Bondarciuc, who was put on international wanted list, has been detained in Belgium. Subsequently, in early December 2021, Bondarciuc applied for political asylum in Belgium.

The notary, involved in the authentication of several contracts issued by companies affiliated with Platon, Shor and Plahotniuc, who was to be extradited to Moldova, applied for political asylum in Belgium

On 18 February this year, Ziarul de Gardă reported that notary Olga Bondarciuc had also provided notarial services for former Moldovan President Igor Dodon. According to documents in ZdG’s possession, namely a register of notarial acts, in which Bondarciuc is listed as a notary public, in 2013, she would have officialized several acts at the request of Igor Dodon, former president of Moldova.

Olga Bondarciuc was targeted in the Kroll 2 report as one of the shareholders of Unibank after borrowing millions of lei. Bondarciuc came to public attention after authenticating several contracts issued by firms affiliated to Vladimir Plahotniuc, Ilan Shor and Veaceslav Platon. Bondarciuc previously worked in the Global Business Center (GBC) building, which was owned by Vladimir Plahotniuc.

On June 2, 2020, the notary said that she had been threatened to sign several documents prepared by Platon’s lawyers stating that she had issued documents at the request of former PDM leader Vladimir Plahotniuc against controversial businessman Veaceslav Platon. Bondarciuc stressed at the time that all the acts he issued were “in accordance with the law”.

Also in June 2020, controversial businessman Veaceslav Platon accused Bondarciuc of forging several documents by which he was sentenced to prison.