The Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office said that it will not dispute the court judgment by which four former employees of the National Bank of Moldova (NBM), including ex-vice governor Emma Tăbîrță, were acquitted. According to the institution, the accusations could not be substantiated, IPN reports.
The acquittal sentence was passed by the Buiucani Court of Chisinau on January 4. The other three former NBM employees are Matei Dohotaru, Ruslan Grate and Vladimir Țurcanu. In its decision, the court noted that the misconduct in office wasn’t confirmed.
The former vice governor and other former employees of the NBM were accused of misconduct in 2010-2014, when about US$20 billion from the Russian Federation was laundered through Moldovan bank accounts.
The Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation into this case on August 2, 2016. It refers to the inspections carried out by the NBM at Moldindconbank in 2011-2014.
The state prosecutor agreed with the arguments provided by the court. He considered it was relevant not to take into account the provisions of the law on financial institutions when examining the case in 2016-2017. Under these provisions, the imposition of any sanction, including fine, on Moldindconbank wasn’t an obligation, but a right of the NBM Board of which Emma Tăbîrță formed part.
Also, the possibility of imposing penalties on Moldindconbank wasn’t within the remit of the three accused who then served as division heads and their professional behavior didn’t cause direct damage to the state budget.
