A lawyer from Chisinau was convicted of influence peddling and was fined 110,000 lei. The court also ordered the special confiscation of €9,200 from the defendant and banned the man from practicing as a lawyer for a period of two years, IPN reports.

The Anticorruption Prosecutor's Office (APO) said that, between 2020 and 2021, the defendant allegedly asked for and received €9,200 from the denouncer. The defender was to influence public figures of the police inspectorate and officials of the prosecutor's office to take a favorable decision on the case that involved the denouncer – a case of falsification of documents and illicit acquiring of a car.

Subsequently, from the amount asked for and received, the lawyer returned €1200 to the denouncer on the grounds that he could not exert the promised influence in relation to the last decision that was to be adopted in the criminal case under the management of the prosecutor's office.

"Although the defendant denied committing the acts both at the criminal investigation stage and during the examination of the case in court, his guilt was proven by the evidence examined in court hearings," said the APO.

The sentence issued by the, Buiucani Court of Chisinau City can be appealed to the Centru Court of Appeals.