Three persons were arrested as a result of the searches carried out this morning by officers of the National Anticorruption Center and anticorruption prosecutors in the case concerning the sale of lots of land owned by the Durlești mayor’s office. The information was confirmed for IPN by the press officer of the Prosecutor General’s Office Mariana Cherpec.

The three persons are the president of the Party “Democracy at Home” Vasile Costiuc, municipal councilor Veaceslav Nedelea and a woman who was allegedly involved in the scheme, said NAC spokeswoman Angela Starinschi.

The arrested persons are suspected of collusion in abuse of power in the interests of an organized criminal group and siphoning of large amounts of money committed by a criminal group. As a result of such actions, tens of lots of land became the property of family members, relatives and persons close to the former mayor of Durlești, while those who took part in this scheme enjoyed financial benefits.

The anticorruption prosecutors are to familiarize the three with the indictment and to decide on the preventive measures against them.

In the same case, one more person was arrested last November. This is now under house arrest. Recently, searches were conducted at the homes of eight persons close to the former mayor. There were seized documents about the cost of transactions, mobile phones and memory sticks. The eight persons are investigated outside remand.

The criminal scheme to dispossess the Durlești mayor’s office of lots of land was implemented in 2005-2007. The damage was estimated at 7 million lei. The NAC officers asked the Criminal Assets Recovery Agency to sequester property of the former mayor and his daughter.