A former vice director of the Chisinau Center of Excellence in Building was arrested by anticorruption prosecutors and officers on suspicion that he asked and received €22,000 from two residents of the capital city for helping them solve a dispute, IPN reports, quoting the National Anticorruption Center.

According to the denouncer, the former functionary told them he can help them win the trial over the status of dorm No. 5 situated on Gheorghe Asachi St. In fact, the dwellers of this dorm, who were mainly teachers or students, asked the court to modify the building’s status from dormitory managed by the Center of Excellence in Building into an apartment building so that the rooms could be privatized.

The ordinary court and the appeals court rejected dwellers’ claims, but the ex-vice director of the Center said he has influence upon judges of the Supreme Court of Justice and can persuade them to pass a judgment favorable to the dwellers. The denouncer said the man asked for €22,000 from them for solving the case.

The man was remanded in custody in the morning of January 18 and faces at most seven years in jail for influence peddling.