Prosecutor of the National Anticorruption Center Iurie Andiuta is carrying out searches in the office of the head of Criuleni district. Press officer of the National Anticorruption Center Angela Starinski has told IPN that the searches are performed within the case of rigged tender contests that features an ex-head of the same district.

In 2012, the Criuleni District Council and an association signed a memorandum of cooperation for attracting investments to ensure the sustainable development of the district’s communities. One year later, the signatories managed to obtain two grant contracts to the value of over € 2 million.

After the projects were launched, Vitalie Rotaru, who then headed the district, pressed members of the association to make them contribute financially to some of the projects. These told prosecutors that the former district head created impediments to the firms involved in the implementation of the projects in order to persuade them. He also refused to allocate the mandatory co-financing from the district budget. Vitalie Rotaru faces up to 15 years in jail.