One year after Igor Dodon’s detention in the “kuliok” case
Wednesday, May 24, 2023, marks the one-year anniversary of the detention of former Moldovan President Igor Dodon in the “kuliok” case. So far, according to the website of the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ), 24 court hearings have been held in the case in which the former head of state is accused of committing the crime of passive bribery and organizing and accepting political party financing from a criminal organization, committed during his tenure as President of Moldova in June 2019.
Two days after his detention, the former president of the country was placed under house arrest for 30 days, a measure that was extended by 30 days each until autumn 2022. In November 2022, Igor Dodon was placed under judicial control and banned from leaving the country. On 18 May 2023, the measure was extended by the court for another 60 days.
Igor Dodon is the first head of state to be tried for a crime committed during his time in office and was detained on the day that the current president, Maia Sandu, turned 50.
Igor Dodon’s detention
In May 2020, Igor Dodon was targeted in a criminal trial that never came to an end, after video footage of discussions between Igor Dodon, Vladimir Plahotniuc and Serghei Iaralov in June 2019 emerged in the public space, showing the PDM leader handing Dodon a black bag, which was speculated to contain money. In that recording, Igor Dodon tells Plahotniuc not to “walk around with his asses” and to pass the bag to Cornel (supposedly Corneliu Forks, ed.), because he was going to pay certain salaries. Plahotniuc then told Iaralov to give the money to Costea (supposedly Constantin Botnari, editor’s note) to pass on to Cornel.
On 18 May 2022, the Prosecutor General’s Office (PG) ordered the initiation of criminal proceedings in the so-called “kuliok” file. The PG’s decision came a day after the Chisinau Court of Appeal (CA) overturned in its entirety the decision of the Chisinau Ciocana District Court to uphold the order not to prosecute the former President of the Republic of Moldova. Moldova, socialist Igor Dodon, as well as the annulment of the same Order, signed by the former Deputy Prosecutor of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, Vasile Levițki, on the fact of alleged illegal financing of the PSRM, based on video footage of the negotiations that took place in June 2019 at the PDM headquarters between Igor Dodon and Vladimir Plahotniuc.
On 24 May 2022, Igor Dodon was detained after anti-corruption prosecutors carried out ten raids for more than ten hours at several locations owned by Dodon and his relatives. Dodon was then detained on suspicion of passive bribery, accepting political party funding from a criminal organisation, treason and illicit enrichment.
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The searches took place in Sadova, at Igor Dodon’s parental home and house in Chisinau, at the “Sadovo” rest base in Sadova, at Molovata, on the banks of the Dniester river, where Dodon’s family has invested in another rest base, at the headquarters of the foundations of the former socialist president of Moldova, including the headquarters of the Moldovan-Russian Business Union, where Dodon was president. Two days later, the former president was placed under house arrest for 30 days.
Who is defending former Moldovan President Igor Dodon, who is suspected of treason: a former CEC member and a former presidential adviser and lawyer of PCRM leader Vladimir Voronin. File details
The “Kuliok” case referred to the Supreme Court of Justice
On October 6, 2022, the PA announced the referral of the criminal case of indictment of the former President of the Republic of Moldova, Igor Dodon, in the commission of the crime of passive bribery and organization and acceptance of political party financing from a criminal organization, committed during his term as President of the Republic of Moldova in June 2019.
The two-count case against Igor Dodon has been submitted to the SCJ for examination on the merits. According to the provisions of Article 39 of the Criminal Procedure Code, the SCJ is competent to judge in first instance criminal cases concerning crimes committed by the president of the Republic of Moldova, the prosecutor’s office said.
On 27 February, the PA announced that after 13 court hearings, anti-corruption prosecutors had begun presenting evidence in support of the charges against former President Igor Dodon in the case in which he is suspected of passive bribery, organising and accepting political party financing from a “criminal organisation”.
The former president is under judicial control. On 18 November 2022, Igor Dodon was released from house arrest and placed under judicial control, with a ban on leaving the country.
So far, according to the SCJ website, 24 court hearings have been held in the “kuliok” case. The last hearing took place on 18 May, when the judges of the SCJ decided to extend Igor Dodon’s pre-trial release under judicial control for another 60 days. The next hearing in the “kuliok” case was scheduled for 5 June.
