The searches in electoral corruption cases continue. On Thursday morning, law enforcement officers raided places in Hâncești, Călărași, Strășeni, Nisporeni, Criuleni, Florești and Orhei within seven criminal cases involving 12 suspects, who are representatives of a political party. One of them, the leader of the Cimișlia local organization, was detained for 72 hours, IPN reports.

The National Anticorruption Center (NAC) said that the 12 representatives of the political party are suspected of having offered money to voters so that these vote for a particular candidate in the presidential election.

The searches were conducted at the homes of the suspects and at the headquarters of the political party. All the persons were escorted to the NAC for questioning.

"The people who offer money to influence the results of an election risk from one year to five years in prison and a fine of over 50,000 lei. Illegal financing of political parties from prohibited sources is punishable by up to six years in prison and a fine of over 67,000 lei. In order to ensure the recovery of damages, the law enforcement institutions can seize the person's property. Also, the persons who cooperate with the law enforcement agencies are released from criminal/contravention liability, if they denounced the deeds or actively contributed to the discovery or counteracting of the act of electoral corruption," the NAC warns.

In a press conference held on Thursday morning, MP Marina Tauber complained about pressure exerted on the team of “Victory" bloc and of Ilan Shor. "This morning, we have been woken up by a number of searches. Currently, searches are being carried out at former mayors, at our colleagues. A person from Briceni was already detained. And so it happens every day. We are talking about people who represent a party, an opposition force. This is how the opposition is esteemed in our country," said Marina Tauber.