Moldova has not made considerable progress in the fight against corruption, said Viorel Morari, the head of the Criminal Prosecution Division of the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office, Info-Prim Neo reports. “A larger number of corruption-related offences were discovered after strengthening the capacities of the bodies dealing with the prevention and combating of corruption, but it is hard to hold the persons to blame accountable,” Viorel Morari said during the TV program “The Press to the Press” broadcast by Drochia TV. He also said that over 200 legal cases involving over 300 suspects had been opened in 2008 over corruption. There are numerous cases when it is impossible to apply punishment, the judge invoking attenuating circumstances like the fact that the offender has to maintain minors. Sometimes, the prosecutor demands that the offender is put on probation. “The persons suspected of corruption are also not punished because the sides involved in the case do not cooperate, like the person that offers bribe for instance,” Viorel Morari said. According to the press service of the General Prosecutor’s Office, last year the law enforcement bodies received 3,585 reports of corruption-related offices. Legal action was taken in 962 of the cases. The largest number of reports was filed in the municipality of Chisinau – 815. There were instituted 168 criminal cases. “The Press to the Press” programs are produced at local TV channels in Moldova as part of a project supported by the Strengthening Civil Society Monitoring Capacity in Moldova Program carried out by the Academy for Educational Development with the technical assistance of the International Research and Exchanges Board. The program is financed by the Millennium Challenge Corporation and managed by the United State Agency for International Development as part of the Threshold Country Program for Moldova.