Two employees of the General Border Police Inspectorate and a private individual were convicted of influence peddling, being forced to pay a total fine of half a million lei. The sentence was passed by the Buiucani Court of Chisinau City, IPN reports.

One of the policemen was found guilty of five acts of influence peddling and was fined 275,000 lei. The second policeman was fined 125,000 lei for two similar acts. The individual involved in the case will have to pay 100,000 lei. All the three admitted their guilt.

According to the investigation, they asked for and received amounts of €50 to €700 to facilitate the crossing of the border across the Prut for passenger carriers, without carrying out the necessary checks. They also made approaches to employees of the Customs Service in order to avoid the checks of goods that exceeded the nontaxable limits.

The authorities inform that the case in which the three were convicted is part of an extensive investigation conducted by the Anticorruption Prosecutor's Office since January 2021. The investigations were carried out in cooperation with the National Anticorruption Directorate of Romania, the General Border Police Inspectorate and the Internal Protection and Anticorruption Service.

Currently, two other criminal cases related to this case are at the final stage of court examination. They involve seven employees of the Customs Service, three border guards and one individual.

The sentence can be appealed to the Chisinau Court of Appeals within 15 days.