We do not analyze the situation of the protesters who possibly took 400 lei. We probe the suspicions that a political party is financed by an organized criminal group, said the chief Anticorruption Prosecutor Veronica Dragalin. According to her, there are suspicions that the money entered Moldova illegally and the law on party financing was this way violated as this obliges the political organizations to declare their incomes, IPN reports.
Three days ago, the court examined 22 prosecutors’ requests to order preventive measures against persons involved in the scheme to accept financing for the Shor Party from an organized criminal group. As a result, five persons were placed in remand detention, while 17 persons were placed under house arrest. The chief Anticorruption Prosecutor said the sum of 3.5 million lei announced earlier is approximate as some of the bags remain sealed for being examined for fingerprints.
“Of the 3.5 million lei, 2.5 million was found in a place that I cannot name. The rest of the money, which was packed in the same way, was found in another place. In the case of ten bags, the prosecutors decided not to unpack the money as these need to be examined for fingerprints. The sum in the unpacked bags is not exact. The day the persons were caught red-handed, one of the persons managed to distribute money before being stopped by the investigation group. This means that a sum of money was already transmitted,” Veronica Dragalin stated in the program “In Depth” on ProTV Chisinau channel.
The official noted that the citizens who took money from the Shor Party for taking part in protests in central Chisinau will not be held accountable. The party is suspected of accepting illegal financing.
“We speak about the distribution of cash in the middle of the night. If someone intends to help the citizens, they don’t go at night with the car, with black bags with millions of lei inside to distribute money covertly. The investigated offense is illegal financing of a political party. Ilan Shor said the money is from him. The investigators will determine how this money entered the Republic of Moldova. We do not investigate the people who take to the streets and possibly accepted 400 lei. We are not analyzing through the angle of the protesters. We are analyzing the activity of a political party that must obey particular rules. A political party can be financed only in particular ways and the incomes need to be declared. The offense we are examining is that a political party does not receive money in the way defined by law but accepts money from an organized criminal group,” said Veronica Dragalin.
In accordance with the Penal Code, complicity in the acceptance of financing for a party from an organized criminal group is punished with a fine of 57,500 to 92,500 lei or two to seven years in jail.
