Seven persons who are building specialists were arrested on charges of corruption, forgery of documents and influence peddling and face up to seven years in jail. The arrests were made on February 13 following searches at the Chisinau City Hall, the local cadastral service and suspects’ homes, IPN reports.

In a press release, the National Anticorruption Center said that since 2017 until now, a group of persons had rented an office at the Chisinau City Hall, employing an illegal scheme to legalize constructions in the interests of private individuals and legal entities. Two coordinators of the group identified persons who intended to obtain documents for the final authorization of construction works and provided these with the necessary documents without travelling to the place to assess the works. Afterward, members of the commission for the final authorization of works signed the final report. The procedures were performed in the rented office and the same persons later went to the Chisinau local cadastral service to register the buildings.

About 40 cases of legalization of construction works in Chisinau and its suburbs were identified during the investigation that lasted for several months. For the provided services, the group coordinators collected from clients €250 to €3 500, with each member of the commission being rewarded.