{"id":3777,"date":"2020-06-29T18:38:14","date_gmt":"2020-06-29T15:38:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zdg.md\/en\/?p=3777"},"modified":"2021-01-15T16:58:01","modified_gmt":"2021-01-15T14:58:01","slug":"the-assets-and-background-of-the-deputy-director-of-the-national-administration-of-penitentiaries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zdg.md\/en\/the-assets-and-background-of-the-deputy-director-of-the-national-administration-of-penitentiaries\/","title":{"rendered":"The Portrait of a Head of National Penitentiary Administration That Receives Donations of Thousands of Euros (Part I)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Serghei Demcenco is the deputy director of the National Administration of Penitentiaries. He lives in a house in a residential sector<\/strong> in midtown Chi\u0219in\u0103u, surrounded by luxurious houses. Demcenco didn\u2019t mention in his declarations of assets and personal interests the house where he lives. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to his previous declarations of assets, since 2014, Demcenco received donations from relatives worth 60,000 euros. However, he doesn\u2019t mention the degree of kinship of these relatives. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recently, Demcenco was found guilty of allowing a conflict of interest, but he was acquitted because the limitation period of contraventional liability expired. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In another case, Demcenco was charged with ill-treatment by the police force, but he was not found guilty by national courts. However, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) convicted Moldova in this case and forced the state to pay damages of almost 30,000 euros.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Demcenco has been Deputy Director of the National Administration of Penitentiaries since May 2018. Until then, for more than two years, he was Deputy Director of the Department of Penitentiary Institutions, now named the National Administration of Penitentiaries. Prior to joining the Department of Penitentiary Institutions, Demcenco worked at the same institution, as head of the Internal Security Directorate. Several directors of the National Administration of Penitentiaries have changed in recent years, but Demcenco has managed to stay in office, fulfilling the duties of interim director, periodically. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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According to the CV, Demcenco worked only in the public sector. During 1993-2010, he worked for the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In 2010-2012, he worked at the Center for Combating Economic Crimes and Corruption, which later transformed into the National Anticorruption Center and he continued working there from 2012 until 2014. Demcenco holds the special rank of Senior Inspector of Justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His Mother’s House Located on a Lot Purchased from the Former Director of the National Anticorruption Center<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Demcenco lives in a house located in the R\u00e2\u0219cani district, midtown Chi\u0219in\u0103u, on a street with luxury houses, supervised non-stop by a security guard from a private company. Officially, the building belongs to Galina Demcenco, Demcenco\u2019s mother, born in 1945 and originally from the village of Prod\u0103ne\u0219ti, Flore\u0219ti district, north of Moldova.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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ZdG previously wrote that Demcenco’s parents bought the 24,000 square meter lot, on which the house was later built, from Viorel Chetraru, former director of the National Anticorruption Center, currently vice-president of the Court of Accounts. Chetraru had obtained the lot at a normative price in December 2001 from the Chi\u0219in\u0103u City Hall and sold it to the Demcenco family a year later. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The buildings in Demcenco’s yard cannot be seen from the street due to limited access and the high fence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Demcenco’s house<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

However, one can notice at least two buildings with two levels. According to the Land Registry Services, the main building in the yard, the family house, has an official area of \u200b\u200b112 square meters. In addition, there are two other buildings of 74 and 37 square meters each, that are registered at the Land Registry Services. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reception minutes of the three buildings were written in November 2017. One of the buildings, as well as the courtyard, partially extend onto a related lot of 200 square meters, which is the municipal property and for which a lease was concluded in 2014. According to the Land Registry Services papers, Demcenco’s mother leased the related lot for a period of 10 years, until 2024. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The related land, of 2 ares, leased from the municipality<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Demcenco’s mother is also the owner of a 45 square-meter apartment in the Buiucani district, midtown Chi\u0219in\u0103u, bought in 2014. The villagers from Prod\u0103ne\u0219ti, Demcenco’s hometown, told us that Demcenco\u2019s mother taught the French language at the village school her entire life, and Demcenco\u2019s father, Mihail Demcenco, who meanwhile died, had worked in the former kolkhoz. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The building where Demcenco’s mother has an apartment<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The people we talked to also told us that Demcenco’s mother sold the house in the village, which was a regular one, without any facilities. One of the people from Prod\u0103ne\u0219ti, with whom we spoke, informed us that Demcenco’s mother would live with her daughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donations of 60,000 Euros “From Relatives”<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Although Demcenco has been living in the house belonging to his mother for several years, he has never declared the property in any of his declarations of assets and personal interests submitted since 2014 until now. This goes against the Law on the Declaration of Property and Personal Interests. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Demcenco indicated in the declarations of assets a 56 square-meter apartment, acquired in 1994, and half of an urban lot of 24,000 square meters, bought in 2007. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 2019 declaration, Demcenco indicated that he owns an Audi car, manufactured in 2009 and purchased in 2019, a Chevrolet Tahoe SUV, produced in 2006, and a motorcycle from 1975. In 2019, the deputy director of the National Administration of Penitentiaries got a salary of over 13,000 euros (254,600 lei), which is over 1,000 euros (21,000 lei) per month. In addition, he got his retirement pension, which amounted to over 5,700 euros (112,400 lei), the equivalent of 400 euros (9,300 lei) per month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Demcenco’s declaration of assets, his wife works for the Public Services Agency. Last year, she had a monthly salary of about 600 euros (11,000 lei). In 2019, the Demcenco family received “donations from relatives” worth 10,000 euros. Since 2014, for six consecutive years, Demcenco has indicated in his declarations of assets that he received donations from relatives, amounting to 60,000 euros. However, he did not indicate the degree of kinship with the person or persons who regularly donate thousands of euros annually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guilty of Allowing a Conflict of Interest, but Unpunished<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On March 27, 2020, the Chi\u0219in\u0103u Court issued a ruling by which the deputy director of the National Administration of Penitentiaries was found guilty of \u201cfailure to declare a conflict of interest by a person working in a public organization.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Serghei Demcenco<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

According to the ordinance that served as the basis for starting the misdemeanor process, between December 2018 and January 2019, when Demcenco was deputy director of the National Administration of Penitentiaries, he \u201cexerted pressure on M\u00eerzac Sergiu to formally conduct the contest for the position of Head of the Logistics and Administration Department of Penitentiary 8 from Bender and promote in this position the National Administration of Penitentiaries employee Papca Mihail,\u201d Demcenco’s nephew.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The prosecutor of the case stated that according to the law Demcenco \u201chad to inform the National Integrity Authority immediately, but not later than three days from the date of finding, about any real situation of conflict of interest.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The misdemeanor case targeting Demcenco was sent for examination in court on November 22, 2019. However, a decision on this case was issued only on March 27, 2020. Although the court ruled that \u201cDemcenco’s guilt has been fully proven,\u201d the trial was stopped because of the limitation of the contravention liability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reasoning of the decision states that Demcenco committed the deed on January 18, 2019, and the one-year term of liability expired on January 18, 2020. Although he was found guilty, the deputy director of the National Administration of Penitentiaries escaped the misdemeanor sentence, since the judgment was issued later than one year after the act was done. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recently, the National Integrity Authority initiated an investigation targeting Demcenco, based on notifications which claimed that Demcenco would have managed two companies in parallel with the civil service, which is prohibited by law. By a finding of February 6, 2020, the National Integrity Authority established that no proof was found to the information in the complaints and the control procedure concerning Demcenco was terminated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Demcenco Targeted in an Ill-Treatment Case, which Reached the ECtHR<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The ECtHR convicted Moldova in an old criminal case featuring Demcenco. Demcenco was accused that in 2004, together with another police officer ill-treated the citizen Dumitru Breabin right in the building of the Ministry. Back then, Demcenco was working at the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Demcenco and his police officer colleague wanted to force Breabin to admit the falsification of documents regarding the sale-purchase of an apartment in Chi\u0219in\u0103u. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dumitru Breabin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

According to the statements of the victim and the witnesses, found in the ECtHR decision of April 7, 2009, Demcenco and his police colleague beat Breabin with a baton, many of the blows were to the victim\u2019s head. According to the forensic examination reports, the victim was diagnosed with various bodily injuries, head trauma, and post-traumatic deafness in the right ear. The ECtHR judgment stipulates that the injury caused to the applicant led to a 25 percent loss of working capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Breabin’s case reached the ECtHR after Moldovan prosecutors rejected his complaints several times and ignored the statements of the two witnesses who saw Breabin immediately after he was beaten at the headquarters of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Subsequently, the prosecutors’ refusals to initiate criminal proceedings were also upheld by the courts, which determined the injured party to appeal to the ECtHR.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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