Officers and anticorruption prosecutors continue the investigations into the financing of the protests staged by the Shor Party. The chief of the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office Veronica Dragalin said that even if evidence is yet being collected about particular auctions, one episode of this case can be soon sent to court. According to her, if persons involved in the fraudulent schemes are convicted, the organization of paid protests will be discouraged, IPN reports.
Last Saturday, one day before the antigovernment protest mounted by the Movement for People, the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office, in cooperation with the National Anticorruption Center and the Security and Intelligence Service, carried out over 20 searches in the case of illegal financing of the Shor Party. Eight persons were arrested on suspicion that they accepted financing for the party from an organized criminal group. The offense is punished with up to seven years in jail.
“The prosecutors and officers are continuing the investigations. It’s true that we cannot investigate endlessly, but the duty of the prosecutors and officers is to continue investigations when they know that offenses are being committed. That’s why searches are yet conducted. We use special investigative measures. As a result of the searches conducted last weekend, a person was remanded in custody for 20 days, two persons were placed under house arrest, while the rest are under judicial control,” Veronica Dragalin stated in the program “Emphasis on Today” on TVR Moldova channel.
According to the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office, a number of episodes concerning the transmission by members of the organized criminal group of over 3.3 million lei, €61,000 and US$55,000 to members and activists of the Shor Party have been documented with the assistance of special techniques. Veronica Dragalin said the a number of episodes of the protest funding case will be sent to court in several weeks or months.
“But the fact that we will send such episodes to court or will bring persons to justice does not mean that the protests will be stopped. I think the work done by prosecutors and anticorruption officers, and also the police, the SIS, helped avoid serious challenges last Sunday. There was a rather modest protest. If there are powerful signals that such cases reach the judges and then the persons are convicted, this will discourage the persons who want to take part in illegal schemes. I do not refer to persons who really want to protest,” said the head of the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office.
On Wednesday, the Movement for People announced that it will mount a new public rally in the center of Chisinau on February 28, starting at 12:30pm. The protest organizers invited the people who can no longer cope with the high bills to join in.
