Prosecutors insists all corruption-related offenses should deprive offenders of public offices

Moldovan prosecutors insist all the offenses related to corruption should be punished by deprivation of the right to occupy public offices or to do certain activities, Info-Prim Neo reports. Valeriu Botnari, the deputy prosecutor general, says the compulsory application of this additional punishment for all corruption-related crimes “will prevent the person guilty of fraudulently using his/her position to further occupy the same rank and commit the same infractions.” The idea to modify the legislation in this respect (art. 65 of the Penal Code) was introduced the final resolution of the recent National Anti-Corruption Conference. In 11 months of 2008, the prosecutors and the police searched some 23,000 offenses, of which 1,500 are related to corruption. 675 cases entailing 794 people have been sent to courts, including 72 related to passive corruption, 21 – to active corruption, 69 – to influence peddling, 61 – power abuse and 92 – power excess. According to the general Prosecutor's Office, 14 people were jailed for corruption, 21 were fined in 2008. 52 law suits were canceled by courts, as 26 were acquitted. “We consider as groundless the court's decisions not sent the guilty of corruption to jail but to fine them. The inmates are not corrected and they may commit new other infractions,” Valeriu Botnari says. The general prosecutor's office has recorded 3,500 notifications about corruption-related offenses. Most often, the plaintiffs complain the payoffs are extorted by public servants to speed up making decisions (37.9%), as gratitude for exerting their job tasks (37.5%), not to execute their job tasks (13.2%).