Sergiu Sîrbu, a former Communist-turned-Democrat-turned-Pro Moldova lawmaker and currently the vice president of the Shor Party, has been arrested for 72 hours on illicit enrichment charges.
Sîrbu becomes the fifth former lawmaker to be arrested on Wednesday, in addition to Violeta Ivanov, Vladimir Vitiuc (both currently members of the Shor Party), Artur Reșetnicov and Anatolie Zagorodnîi.
In 2015, alongside nine other Communist MPs, the five defected their group to subsequently join Vladimir Plahotniuc’s Democratic Party and consolidate its control over Parliament. It has long been rumored that the members of the splinter group took large bribes for the transition.
