The criminal case in which the suspended Prosecutor General is being investigated for illicit enrichment, still at the prosecution stage
The criminal case in which the suspended Prosecutor General Alexandr Stoianoglo is being investigated for illicit enrichment is still at the prosecution stage. Representatives of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (PA) told the daily “Ziarul de Gardă” that prosecutors are currently conducting parallel financial investigations, including the authorisation to seize documents containing bank secrecy and other documents to be analysed in relation to the circumstances under investigation in this criminal case.
“At the end of the criminal prosecution, the prosecutor will order a solution according to Article 291 of the CPC (solutions ordered by the prosecutor at the end of the criminal prosecution, ed.) and will inform both the person concerned and the media,” PA representatives told ZdG.
The criminal case in which Alexandr Stoianoglo is being investigated for illicit enrichment was initiated in September 2022, after last August , the Superior Council of Prosecutors (SCP) appointed prosecutor Victor Furtună to examine a referral on alleged illegalities of illicit enrichment and money laundering allegedly committed by the suspended prosecutor general.
“It is suspected that the person, through third parties, owns certain assets that substantially exceed the value of the assets he could legally acquire,” prosecutor Victor Furtună explained to ZdG at the time.
In August 2022, Stoianoglo stated that the apartment, one of the subjects of the complaint, belongs to his daughter and was purchased in 2015. According to Alexandr Stoianoglo, at that time he was neither a prosecutor general, nor a deputy, nor a civil servant and cannot be “the subject of this illegality”.
Meanwhile, Vasile Gafton, one of the suspended prosecutor general’s lawyers, claims that Alexandr Stoianoglo pleads not guilty and that “prosecutors have no evidence that the apartment belongs” to the suspended prosecutor general.
“(…) She (Alexandr Stoianoglo’s daughter, editor’s note) is a party to the sale-purchase contract. We have evidence that proves the origin of the money, but unfortunately the prosecution is not interested and has not heard his daughter so far (… ). He pleads not guilty, it is a fabricated file to keep him away from the office of the Prosecutor General (…). In 2015 Mr. Stoianoglo was not a person of public dignity, he was not a member of parliament, he did not hold any public office. His daughter at the time he purchased the apartment was of age. She concluded the transaction, not Mr Stoianoglo. The source of the money is lawful, not Mr Stoianoglo’s. So the prosecutors from September 2, 2022, when they filed the case, until now have had enough time to invite the owner of the apartment and ask her where she got this money. They just filed the case and that’s it (…). Currently there is no measure applied and she is not going anywhere, she is staying in the country (…),” Vasile Gafton told ZdG.
Alexandr Stoianoglo was suspended from the position of Prosecutor General in early October 2021 and is under investigation for passive bribery, false statements, abuse of office and exceeding the duties of his office. The case concerning the excess of power or overstepping of duties is before the magistrates of the Buiucani Court of Chisinau. The last hearing in this case took place on 9 June 2023 and the next hearing is scheduled for 20 September 2023.
The suspended Prosecutor General, Alexandr Stoianoglo, was detained on 5 October 2021. On 8 October 2021 he was placed under house arrest and subsequently under judicial control. No preventive measures are currently applied against Stoianoglo.
