Șor Party MP Marina Tauber was arrested at the Chisinau International Airport on Monday, May 1. The Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office said the MP was apprehended when she wanted to take the flight to Tel Aviv, Israel, via Istanbul, Turkey, based on an order made by the prosecutor on May 1 for the reason that the defendant violated the preventive measure imposed on her, IPN reports.
On April 28, 2023, the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office requested the judge of inquiry to replace Marina Tauber’s preventive measure of judiciary control with remand detention as she violated the conditions of the preventive measure. Also on April 28, the lawyer for the defendant received a copy of the formulated request. On April 29, Marina Tauber asked to put off the hearing so that she could travel to Israel.
“Given that the defendant already violated the conditions imposed by judges for several times, the prosecutors considered the accused should be arrested at the airport given the considerable risk of absconding,” the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office noted in a press release.
After Marina Tauber was apprehended, her lawyer Aureliu Kolenko said the arrest was illegal and an abuse was committed against the MP, which is related to the election held in Gagauzia. “She wasn’t banned from leaving the Republic of Moldova. The Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office and the court were informed about the intention to leave the country. Moreover, Marina Tauber sent the return ticket with an electronic signature to them. So far, neither the defense, nor Marina Tauber received any summons from the court. We didn’t know if there will be a court hearing with regard to her or not. What happened today is an abuse,” stated the lawyer.
The MP was arrested for the first time in this case on July 21, 2022, after she was stripped of parliamentary immunity. She was charged on two counts: conscious acceptance of financing for the Șor Party from an organized criminal group and falsification of the party’s financial management report for the first half of the year for the purpose of hiding the accumulated funds and the spending.
