Former interim president of the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) Tamara Chisca-Doneva has been removed from criminal prosecution in the case of illicit enrichment, but the prosecution continues, with procedural actions ordered that were not completed by September 22, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (PA) announces.

If new evidence is acquired that was not known at the time of the prosecution, the representatives of the Prosecutor’s Office announce that they will take the actions required by law. According to the AP, the status of suspect may be assigned to a person for a maximum period of 6 months.

“(…) Analyzing the overall evidentiary material, in conjunction with the results of the parallel financial investigations carried out by ARBI in the case in question, up to the stage of expiry of the term of suspicion, September 22, 2022, it is found that no evidence has been identified that would establish the decision of indictment. As a result, it was decided to remove the suspect from prosecution, but with the continuation of the prosecution because procedural actions were ordered which were not completed by 22 September (…).

As a result of the criminal prosecution actions carried out, no procedural measure of constraint was applied against the magistrate. Subsequently, the judge was admitted as a suspect in the criminal case for illicit enrichment. In the course of the investigation of the case, all the information published in the media and that obtained during the course of the criminal proceedings was checked. In the framework of the criminal prosecution, the Agency for the Recovery of Criminal Assets (ARBI) was ordered to carry out parallel financial investigations in order to determine the amount of income obtained and expenses incurred by the judge during the exercise of public office, to identify undeclared sources of income and assets held personally or through third parties on the territory of Moldova or in other jurisdictions,” PA representatives said in a statement.

In March 2022, anti-corruption prosecutors and officers of the National Anti-Corruption Centre (CNA) raided the office, home and car of the former acting president of the CSJ, who was targeted in a criminal case filed over illicit enrichment. The SCM issued the consent for the searches at the request of the then acting Prosecutor General Dumitru Robu.

Earlier, the PA announced that magistrate Tamara Chișca-Doneva was suspected that, during 2014-2021, while holding the position of judge, including performing administrative functions in the courts, she obtained a substantial increase in her assets and those of her family members, which could not be reasonably justified in relation to her income from the lawful exercise of her duties in the office held.

Tamara Chișca-Doneva has been a judge at the CSJ since 2003, having previously worked at the Chisinau CA, the Riscani Court, Chisinau and the Hincesti Court. She was a member of the panel of judges who ordered, by a decision issued on 20 July 2005, the prohibition of the execution and registration of any transactions of alienation of assets, including the property of the former “Gemeni” S.A..

In February 2020, by the judgment issued by the ECtHR, the Government of the Republic of Moldova was ordered to pay damages of €1,515,000 and to return to the applicants the parts of the buildings which were in their ownership immediately before the adoption of the judgment of 20 July 2005, together with the related land, free of ownership restrictions, in exchange for the simultaneous transfer by the applicants to the Government of 36.55% of the “Gemeni” shares returned to the applicants after the annulment of the judgment in their favour. In the event of failure to return the property, the sum amounts to EUR 2 120 000.

ZdG wrote in 2014 that Judge Tamara Chișca-Doneva and her husband, Vasile Chișca, lived in a two-storey house with attic in the Râșcani sector, estimated by real estate experts at about 7 million lei.