Over US$15 million was transferred from the Russian Federation in September for corrupting voters in the context of the October 20 election and referendum. About 130,000 citizens have been detected so far by law enforcement agencies. The money went to the leaders of local offices and also activists and sympathizers who were corrupted to vote for a particular contestant in the election or to express their view in the referendum, the head of the General Police Inspectorate (GPI) Viorel Cernăuțeanu announced at a press briefing, IPN reports.
The police chief noted that the money came from the accounts of a Russian bank that is under international sanctions, including on the territory of the Republic of Moldova. The people are fully guided through Telegram bots coordinated by persons from the Russian Federation. The money is designed to disrupt the electoral process in Moldova and also to stage such events as flashmob meetings, destabilization and other illegalities. Those involved are liable to punishment.
During the briefing, the chief prosecutor of the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office Veronica Dragalin warned that the law is harsh in this regard and the consequences are much more serious than the value of the transfers. “The people who provided personal information to have bank accounts opened in the Russian Federation for such purposes risk not only a fine of over 37,000 lei, but also the confiscation of all transfers and, the most serious consequence, imprisonment. However, the law provides that the participants in such actions, who report and actively cooperate with the criminal investigation bodies, can be released from criminal or contravention liability,” stated Veronica Dragalin, encouraging the citizens to cooperate with the law.
Officers of the National Investigation Inspectorate jointly with the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office carried out a series of searches within the criminal case initiated on the illegal financing of political parties, initiative groups and election contestants (in large proportions) and for money laundering committed by an organized criminal group (in particularly large proportions). Draft documents, mobile phones, cash in different currencies and other objects relevant to the criminal investigation were seized, the GPI said.
According to Viorel Cernăuțeanu, over 100 local leaders direct the group’s activities, accumulate lists with the identity data of the recruited persons (activists and sympathizers) and then send them to Russia for opening bank accounts at Promsvyazbank. Each leader is paid monthly 250,000 rubles, equivalent to 45,000 lei. Around 1,900 sector heads recruit people and direct the activities of the group of activists and sympathizers in the served sector, accumulate lists with the identity data of the persons recruited by activists and transmit them to the local leader, being paid monthly 25,600 rubles, equivalent to 4,600 lei. The same reward goes to over 50,000 other activists, who recruit people. Over 70,000 sympathizers, recruited people instructed to vote NO in the referendum and which candidate to vote for, are also involved in the scheme and are paid 900 to 1,800 lei, the GPI found.
