Suspended prosecutor general Alexandr Stoianoglo said the current government, despite the recommendations of the Venice Commission and the ECHR, continues to persecute him. The reaction comes after the prosecutor in charge of his case informed about suspicions of unjust enrichment and money laundering with regard to him.
In social media, Alexandr Stoianoglo said that he was named prosecutor general in November 2019, while the apartment of his daughter, to which the prosecutors make reference, was purchased in 2015. In the period, he didn’t sit in Parliament and don’t hold another public post. Therefore, he cannot be accused of such offenses. Moreover, his tax returns show that his salary of MP (2009-2014) exceeds considerably the value of the bought apartment.
He noted that he and his wife are the only children of their parents, who worked throughout their life and surely helped them. He and his family live in an apartment provided by the state and they do not have other dwellings, villas and other types of real estate.
“In general, I cannot understand what the current government is doing. As I do not resign, they decided to use my weakest side – daughter, mother – so as to destroy me. The situation in the economy, finance, energy and agriculture is disastrous, while the authorities decided to persecute those who think differently,” stated Alexandr Stoianoglo.
The Superior Council of Prosecutors entrusted the designated prosecutor Victor Furtuna with the task of investigating the alleged offenses of unjust enrichment and money laundering that were supposedly committed by Alexandr Stoianoglo in 2014-2015, given the newly identified circumstances.
Alexandr Stoianoglo was arrested last October and was subsequently placed under house arrest on charges of abuse of office, bribery, perjury, and facilitation of an organized criminal group. The investigation into abuse of office was completed. The suspended prosecutor general denies any wrongdoing.
At end-May, the Superior Council of Prosecutors proposed that President Maia Sandu should fire Alexandr Stoianoglo from the post of prosecutor general from which he was suspended. The Council took such a decision after familiarizing itself with the report of the expert commission that assessed Stoianoglo’s performance as “unsatisfactory”. President Sandu hasn’t yet taken a decision. At the start of June, the European Court of Human Rights informed as a matter of urgency the Government of the Republic of Moldova about two complaints filed by Alexandr Stoianoglo.
