Andrei Năstase, minister of interior and concurrently deputy prime minister, is requesting the Prosecutor General’s Office to initiate investigations into the alleged involvement of judges and prosecutors in laundering billions of dollars and other grand corruption schemes, as MoI could learn thanks to investigative journalism projects.
Posting to Facebook, Năstase named three Botanica Court judges among the suspects. In 2013 and 2014, Radu Țurcanu, Luiza Gafton and Viorica Mihaila allegedly passed illegal rulings to facilitate money laundering schemes. Năstase also requests investigations against judges Vitalie Zaporojan of the Drochia Court and Igor Mânăscurtă of the Ciocana Court on similar allegations.
According to Andrei Năstase, prosecutor Adriana Bețișor has sat on incriminating evidence for years but hasn’t done anything. Moreover, Năstase accuses Bețișor of conspiring with another prosecutor, Vitalie Călugăreanu, of influencing judges at the Chisinau Court of Appeals to drop all charges against a man and taking a 50,000 euros bribe for the service.
The Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office issued a statement to dismiss any allegations made by Năstase against public officials, including Anti-corruption prosecutors. It said it will start an internal probe as a matter of urgency to demonstrate all the allegations wrong.
