The Moldovan consul in the city of Odessa has been sentenced definitively and irrevocably for passive bribery, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office announced. The former diplomat granted a 60-day long-stay visa to a citizen of Egypt in 2018. The Egyptian obtained the visa in exchange for an amount in foreign currency, without presenting himself at the Consulate, thus violating the regulations on the issuance of the document, IPN reports.
The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office said in a press release that in order to conceal the traces of the crime, the consul induced the intermediary who had sent him the foreign currency and the passport to forge the visa application form in the name of the Egyptian citizen.
The criminal prosecution took place between November 6, 2018 and July 5, 2019. Searches were conducted at the premises of the Consulate of the Republic of Moldova in the city of Odessa, Ukraine. At the prosecutor's request, the accused was suspended from the post of consul.
On February 13, 2025, the Supreme Court of Justice dismissed as inadmissible the appeals of the defense side, upholding the decision of the Chisinau Court of Appeal of September 20, 2023, convicting the Moldovan consul in Odessa.
By the Court of Appeal decision, the consul was fined 75 000 lei and deprived of the right to hold public office for a period of three years for passive bribery. He was also sentenced to one year's imprisonment for the crime of inducing to commit the offense of falsification of official documents, but for both offenses he was released from prison due to the expiry of the statute of limitations.
The intermediaries were sentenced to five and four years imprisonment respectively, with a fine of 150 000 lei. The prison sentence was suspended conditionally for a probation period of three years.
The beneficiary pleaded guilty and was convicted in a separate criminal trial.
According to the PA, this was one of the few cases where, on the basis of operational intelligence, all participants in the corruption offenses, including the visa beneficiary, the two intermediaries and the consul, were held criminally responsible.
