Former Democrat Deputy Constantin Ţuțu is under investigation by the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office for influence peddling. The Chișinău Court issued a 30-day arrest warrant in his name, in absentia on September 27, 2019. However, the deputy fled the country in June 2019.  

The 30-day arrest warrant the Chișinău Court ordered is the default sentence for an unjustified absence when summoned by the Law Institutions.

The former’s deputy’s ex-lawyer, Boris Druță, confirmed this information to the news portal Moldova Curată.  

“The investigative judge awarded an arrest warrant on September 26, and I instantly challenged it with an appeal to the Court of Appeal. I questioned it because I disagree. The accusation is somewhat questionable. The warrant was issued in absentia. They are searching for Constantin Țuțu and he is not in the country,” Boris Druță told Moldova Curată. 

According to the lawyer, the date of the Court of Appeals’ examination has not yet been set.

The former deputy is being investigated on the basis of Article 326 of the Moldovan Criminal Code –  influence peddling – and is accused of having asked for and taken 20,000 euros from the relatives of a man arrested in autumn 2017. 

Constantin Țuțu allegedly promised to influence the prosecutors and intervene to have the arrested man released. It is not yet clear why the case was only begun two years after the crimes have been committed.

Constantin Ţuțu was a deputy in the Democratic Party faction from 2014-2018, under the party leader Vladimir Plahotniuc. The deputy left Moldova in June 2019, after the change of government.

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