The examination of the request to finish the investigation in the absence of the accused Vlad Plahotniuc in the bank fraud case will take place with the participation of an ex officio lawyer. The Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office asked for this after the last hearing was put off because the lawyer for the former politician didn’t show up. The next hearing was set for November 17, 3:30pm, IPN reports.

On August 22, 2022, the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office asked the judge of inquiry of the Ciocana Court of Chisinau to allow completing the investigation in the absence of Vladimir Plahotniuc, the former leader of the Democratic Party.

The lawyers for the accused requested the Constitutional Court to lift the exception of unconstitutionality of the provisions that were recently added to the Penal Procedure Court. On September 29, the Court rejected the given request as inadmissible.

Consequently, six hearings followed and the lawyers in these asked to lift the exception of unconstitutionality, to replace judges, to transfer the case to another court, to postpone hearings, while the prosecutors constantly argued in favor of rejecting the formulated requests.