Six women formerly working at the now-bankrupt Banca de Economii (BEM) were sentenced after embezzling over one million lei in total from clients’ accounts. The sentence comes as a result of a criminal case sent to court by the Dubăsari Prosecutor’s Office.

According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, out of 9 defendants, the six pleaded not guilty. Of these six, four were sentenced to 7 years in prison, and two others indicted for forging signatures were not prosecuted, as the statute of limitations had expired. Another two pleaded guilty, allowing them to get away with fines of 600 conventional units. And a third defendant who pleaded guilty, but who had entered in possession of the embezzled money, got 7 years in prison with a 4-year ban on jobs in financial institutions.

The events took place during 2009 and lasted until 2011, when the defendants worked in different positions, starting from head of banking operations of the BEM Dubăsari branch and chief accountant to cashier.

In the first phase, the BEM employees withdrew over 180 thousand lei from depositors’ accounts, but because the loss was eventually detected, they covered it up in such a way as to create the impression that those accounts from which the money was withdrawn were closed. On the same day, the defendants fictitiously released sums of money from two bank accounts, which would have created the impression to the people in charge of checks in the bank that those clients had taken their money and the accounts had been closed.

By forging the depositors' signatures, the chief accountant also stole more than 185 thousand lei from several BEM clients, starting from 2009 to 2012. Three other defendants, including the cashier, embezzled various amounts during 2009-2011 totaling almost 260 thousand lei, over 180 thousand lei and over 77 thousand lei, respectively. Another defendant, in 2011, when she was a controller-cashier, illegally closed the deposit accounts of three clients.

The ten depositors of the bank who were harmed as a result of the crimes are people who have accumulated savings abroad or savings accumulated during a long period of activity in the country.