A former employee of an insurance company from the Republic of Moldova, but also the managers of some economic agents are criminally investigated for abuse of office. They are suspected of having organized a fraudulent scheme which caused considerable damage to the insurance company, IPN reports.

According to the National Anticorruption Center (CNA), between 2017-2018, the insurance agent had reportedly concluded on behalf of the company three insurance contracts with several economic agents, including a commercial bank and a factory. Knowing that on the insurance market operate the so-called intermediaries or companies that bring clients to insurance agencies, the former employee created two fictitious companies and included them in the Register of the insurance agency. Thus, for their services, the intermediaries illegally collected 25% of the value of the contracts or 550 thousand lei from the insurance agency.

The information about the scheme was provided to CNA by the insurance company that discovered the fraud following an internal audit. A criminal case was initiated for abuse of office.

The former insurance agent was escorted for hearings, and was subsequently detained for 72 hours. The managers of the intermediary companies, who proved to be interposed persons and allegedly acted in the interest of the insurance agent, were also examined. Representatives of the bank and the factory were also questioned, and stated that they signed the insurance contracts directly with the company and not through intermediaries.

If found guilty, the agent risks up to three years in prison.