The deputy head and a veterinarian of the Chisinau Food Safety Division were arrested on suspicion of passive and active corruption. As a result of searches, large sums of Moldovan lei and foreign currency were found at the home of one of the suspects. The origin of the money is yet to be determined, IPN reports, quoting the National Anticorruption Center.

It was established that some of the Division’s chiefs, in complicity with a group of veterinarians, applied a scheme to obtain money and goods from companies that sell food products in the municipality of Chisinau for issuing them with the necessary authorizations. The ‘protection fee’ was levied for issuing quality certificates and for not carrying out the panned sanitary-veterinary inspections and other checks.

Legal action in this case was taken at the end of 2020. This case consists of 57 episodes in which 25 persons are investigated as suspects, while three were charged and are under hour arrest.