The Balti Appeals Court found a woman living in Drochia district of swindle and sentenced her to ten years in jail, banning her from working in the area of tangible property management during five years. By the same decision, which is not yet definitive, the court ordered that the woman pay back the money to the victims, IPN reports.

According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, in 2006 – 2008 the woman swindled 157 persons out of about 12 million lei on the pretext of paying them interest on the loans. Afterward, the woman disappeared and the victims remained without their money. When questioned by prosecutors, the woman said she borrowed the money in order to lend it to other persons so as to earn money from the interest rate.

In November 2011, the first court sentenced the woman to five years and six months in jail and acquitted her in respect of 52 victims for the reason that these didn’t come to the hearing. The prosecutors appealed the decision to a higher court.

Earlier, a number of residents of Chetrosu village of Drochia district told a news conference that they had been in litigation with a local woman who deceived them and left them without money. The woman persuaded them to invest in a private business that she started, but this business went bankrupt in several years. She collected money from villagers, promising them an interest rate of 5% a month. The woman rented a room in the bulling of the mayor’s office and collected money before the eyes of the mayor and local police officer. This fact convinced the villagers that the business was legal. Some of the depositors received the premised interest for several times. When the interest stopped to be paid, the woman invoked different reasons, postponing the payments. The victims filed a lawsuit.