Agrochemicals smuggled into Moldova

A number of businessmen are accused of smuggling, forgery in public documents and tax evasion. The Ministry of Internal Affairs says that the given managers organized a network that had been smuggling agrochemicals into Moldova for over four months. The goods were brought from China, through Ilychovsk port. Crossing Transnistria, the contraband was smuggled into Moldova without a license for such a kind of activity and without paying customs duties. The substances were dissolved and repacked by illegally using the trademarks of the German company Bayer and were afterwards sold to farmsteads in Moldova. Oleg Putuntica, deputy head of the Interior Ministry’s Fraud Investigation Division, told the reporters that the contraband was sold to farmsteads in eight settlements and to a number of factories and agricultural organizations. The police say that the use of these substances for treating seeds can cause considerable damage both to farmers and to consumers. The police established that to mislead the fiscal bodies, the heads of the abovementioned commercial organizations legalized forged invoices worth about 1.2 mln lei. Legal action was taken under article 361, paragraph 2, letter "b" of the Penal Code of Moldova “Manufacture, possession, sale or use of forged official documents, imprints, stamps and seals by two or more persons.” Under the legislation, the persons that commit such offences are liable to up to five years in prison. During searches, the police seized agrochemicals worth about 400,000 lei and 500 forged control stamps for chemical substances worth approximately 8,000 lei. On the basis of the evidence gathered, the police instituted a legal case under article 248, paragraph 5 of the Penal Code “Smuggling”. Oleg Putuntica says the police could open another criminal case over violation of the rules of using toxic substances and pesticides.