13 intellectuals sentenced for forging foreign currency

Thirteen persons aged between 23 and 71 were convicted of forging US dollars and Russian rubles and putting them into circulation, Info-Prim Neo reports, quoting a communiqué from the Prosecutor General’s Office. The prosecutors established that in 2004 – 2009 the convicts manufactured and put into circulation bills of US$100 and 1 000 Russian rubles to the value of US$5 280 000 and 5 791 000 rubles. A large part of the forged currency was seized at different stages of the investigation. Identical forged bills were discovered all over the country. Nine of the persons involved in the scheme were sentenced to 4 to 12 years in prison. The others were put on probation. The convicts are citizens of Moldova. Most of them have higher education, one of them juridical studies. The offenders include a scientist.