The Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office (APO) will be strengthened in 2024 so that it is an autonomous and independent institution and delivers better results than until now. Without this, the APO will not have the capacity to fight grant corruption. The head of the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office Veronica Dragalin, spoke about this at a press conference, IPN reports.

She noted that through an amendment to a Parliament decision, the number of officers and civil servants at the APO will be increased. It is also important to outfit the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office with information technology equipment and special equipment needed to autonomously carry out all types of special investigative measures.

According to Veronica Dragalin, the APO prosecutors last year sent to court over 300 cases and most of these referred to corruption in the public sphere. Among those who were brought to trial were an ex-prime minister, ministers and eight current or former MPs. The parliamentary immunity of three of the MPs was lifted through the agency of Parliament. These are Marina Tauber, Irina Lozovan and Alexandr Nesterovschi. Compared to previous years, the number of cases against persons holding high-ranking posts has increased.

There were passed 162 sentences against 202 people. Most of these were conviction sentences. The case against Ilan Shor, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison, and also a case against a judge were mentioned here.

Veronica Dragalin said she understands that things do not move fast in the justice sector and agrees that there are particular cases that take too long, especially when it comes to high-profile cases, such as the bank fraud, but things don’t stand as bad everywhere as nearly 40% of the sentences passed in 2023 were pronounced during less than a year.

Answering questions, Veronica Dragalin noted that the investigation into the bank fraud case is at the criminal investigation stage. It is a case involving more than 60 persons.