Former deputy governor of the National Bank of Moldova (BNM) Emma Tabirță and former heads of departments of the institution, Matei Dohotaru, Ruslan Grate and Vladimir Turcan, were acquitted in the criminal case opened for negligence in service, admitted in 2010-2014, which allegedly conditioned the laundering of $22 billion from the Russian Federation through the bank “Moldinconbank” (Laundromat case n.ed.).

According to the sentence, which was handed down on Wednesday, 4 January, by the Buiucani Court of Chisinau, the persons concerned were acquitted on the grounds that they were not found to have committed “the crime of negligence in office”.

“(…) During the court hearing, the prosecution requested that the offence committed by the defendants be reclassified under Article 329(1) of the Criminal Code, but the charges against Emma Tabîrță, Grate Ruslan, Dohotaru Matei and Țurcanu Vladimir were not confirmed.

(…) The Court finds that the evidence presented by the State prosecutor leads to the conclusion that the actions of Emma Tabîrță, Grate Ruslan, Dohotaru Matei and Țurcanu Vladimir do not constitute a criminal offence, including that provided for in Article 329(1) of the Criminal Code, since it has not been proven that they failed to perform or improperly performed their duties as a result of a negligent or reckless attitude towards them and that this caused damage to public interests (…).

What preventive measures were taken against the defendants Emma Tabîrță, Grate Ruslan, Dohotaru Matei and Țurcanu Vladimir at the present time are not applied,” the sentence states.

The fraud scheme, known generically as “Laundromat”, which is alleged to be the largest money laundering operation in history, targets dozens of people in the political, justice and financial-banking sectors in Moldova.

In August 2016, anti-corruption prosecutors detained Emma Tăbîrță, former deputy governor of the BNM, Matei Dohotaru, former director of the Banking Supervision Department, and Vladimir Țurcan, former director of the institution’s Regulatory and Licensing Department, in a criminal case for negligence in office, admitted between 2010 and 2014, allegedly for laundering $22 million from the Russian Federation through Moldinconbank.

According to the indictment drawn up by the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office, in the period 2011-2014, being in the subdivision of the BNM and being responsible for taking measures to prevent money laundering, the defendants admitted or failed to take actions regarding the bank institution subject to control on a yearly basis, which resulted in suspicious transactions of over $22 billion.