One of the deputy mayors of Chisinau, the deputy head of the municipal Architecture, Urbanism and Land Relations Division and a senior inspector of the State Constructions Inspectorate were arrested by officers of the National Anticorruption Center following searches carried out within ten criminal cases started over bribery, passive and active corruption, influence peddling, abuse of power and falsification of public documents. These will stay under arrest for 72 hours initially, IPN reports.
The head of the Center’s Prosecution Division Bogdan Zumbreanu told a news conference that at the beginning of this year the Center identified a series of illegalities in the process of authorizing the use of newly built areas and constructions. These include the hastening of the issuing of documents for privatizing nonresidential areas, for changing the status of plot zones and for the final acceptance of facilities.
According to Bogdan Zumbreanu, there were also arrested two persons who acted as intermediaries. The highest bribe transmitted to public functionaries was €12,000.
Those arrested, except for the deputy mayor, are held at the Center’s remand prison. The deputy mayor asked for medical assistance and is now at the Emergency Medicine Institute. Bogdan Zumbreanu said that if the prosecutor asks and the court orders arresting the person, the deputy mayor will be transferred for treatment to the prison’s hospital.
Contacted by IPN, the head of the Chisinau City Hall’s Public Relations Division Vadim Branzaniuc said there were arrested deputy mayor Vlad Cotet and the deputy head of the Architecture, Urbanism and Land Relations Division Radu Blaj.
In the morning of May 25, officers of the National Anticorruption Center carried out 12 searches in the cars, at the homes and offices of a number of functionaries of the Chisinau City Hall and private individuals.
