A former lawyer was given 11 years in a semi-closed prison after being found guilty of 8 counts of influence peddling. The convict has been declared a fugitive from justice.
The court heard that in 2015 the lawyer requested from a defendant and her son 1,000 euros to influence a judge at the Chisinau District Court and 1,300 euros to influence technical experts in order to settle a civil case in her favor.
In another instance from 2015, the lawyer asked 10,000 from the plaintiffs in a civil suit, promising them to influence the judge in their favor, but eventually the plaintiffs lost.
Also, in 2016, under the pretext of influencing a judge at the Ialoveni Court, the lawyer requested 5,000 euros and 66,000 lei from the family of a man accused of committing a homicide.
In another case, in 2016, representing the interests of an accused in a criminal appeal and claiming to have influence over the judges, the lawyer requested 15,000 euros from the relatives of the accused to influence the judges to admit the appeal and reverse the initial sentence.
In 2017, he asked 1500 euros from a man accused of DUI claiming, he could influence the forensic expert to falsify the evidence. When the case went to court nevertheless, he demanded another 10,000 euros to “solve the problem differently”, but this time was refused.
The court also ordered the former lawyer to pay 37,000 euros and 66,000 lei as proceeds of crime.
The sentence can be appealed to the Chisinau Court of Appeal within 15 days.
