At least five or six separate cases targeting “individuals in leadership positions of political parties that have knowingly accepted illegal financing from an organized criminal group” are being investigated by the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office, its chief prosecutor Veronica Dragalin told Radio Europa Liberă in an interview.

Veronica Dragalin declined to disclose any names, citing confidentiality rules, but added that during the electoral period, several crimes may take place related to the use of funds that cannot be explained or the submission of untruthful reports to the electoral body. The crimes under investigation relate to accepting funding from organized criminal groups, submitting inaccurate financial reports to the Central Electoral Commission, vote buying, and funding political parties from prohibited sources.

Veronica Dragalin also told Europa Liberă that prosecutors are continuing investigating allegations of electoral fraud in Gagauzia, which was included in a broader case, the one probing the illegal financing of the Shor Party.

Veronica Dragalin believes that, as the general local elections of November 5 draw nearer, other party and campaign financing abuses could appear, that is why investigations will continue in the electoral period as well.