The second criminal case in which the former Liberal-Democratic Premier Vlad Filat is investigated for money laundering in very large amounts was suspended by the Buiucani branch of the Chisinau Court and was remitted to the Constitutional Court. The court accepted the lawyer’s request to ask the constitutional judges to pronounce on articles of the Penal Procedure Code, IPN reports.

Vlad Filat’s lawyer Victor Munteanu, after the February 28 hearing, said it is not clear when namely the court can pronounce on particular requests made in a trial. Any party involved in the trial can go to the judge of inquiry and this can issue orders. If these are decisive at the prosecution stage, the case can ultimately not be tried. However, this practice at the preliminary stage is most of the times not respected. The applications are sent to judges who are examining the case and most of the times these pronounce together with the sentence. “They delay a matter on which the reason for sending such a case in court depends essentially. The Constitutional Court’s decision can influence proceedings,” stated Victor Munteanu.

On January 16, the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office announced that a new case against Vlad Filat over money laundering in considerable amounts was sent to court. Lawyer Victor Munteanu said then the case is evidently political and electoral in character.

Vlad Filat was arrested in October 2015, being later convicted to nine years in jail for passive corruption and influence peddling. He serves his sentence at Penitentiary No. 13 in Chisinau. In the second criminal case, he faces another ten years behind bars.