The assets of former defector MP Vladimir Vitiuc will not be confiscated for the benefit of the state. The Supreme Court of Justice rejected the appeal filed by the National Integrity Authority

The assets of former defector MP Vladimir Vitiuc will not be confiscated for the benefit of the state. Judges of the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) rejected the appeal filed by the National Integrity Authority (ANI) and upheld the decision of the Chisinau Court of Appeal declaring inadmissible the finding of the unjustified nature of Vladimir Vitiuc’s financial assets in the amount of 679,411 lei, as well as the confiscation of the unjustified wealth for the benefit of the state in the amount of 679,411 lei.

The judgment was delivered on 28 December 2022 by the Civil, Commercial and Administrative Jurisdiction College of the CSJ, composed of magistrates – Tamara Chișca-Doneva, Nicolae Craiu and Aliona Miron, who noted that “proceeding with the examination of the counterclaim filed by the National Integrity Authority… would lead to the violation of the principles laid down in the Administrative Code”.

“(…) The Chisinau Court of Appeal, being entrusted with the examination of the case as the first instance, has just established that the Administrative Code does not contain in Book 3, legal regulations for filing a counterclaim in the administrative dispute procedure. However, the counterclaim is a separate category of civil action, which is brought by the defendant, in the context of a lawsuit already initiated, as a defence against the main action,” the document states.

ANI representatives say they will file the action again and request the confiscation of the unjustified wealth of former defector MP Vladimir Vitiuc, established by the institution’s act of finding.

Thus, ANI states that “once the act of finding issued in respect of Vladimir Vitiuc has become final and irrevocable, the Authority will file a repeated action and will request the confiscation of the unjustified wealth established by the act of finding”.

According to the press release published by ANI, once the finding was issued against the former MP, the Authority’s Legal Directorate filed a request in court, within the procedure for challenging the finding, regarding the unjustified nature of the financial assets and the confiscation of the unjustified wealth established by the finding.

“The Authority brought the counterclaim on the basis of the provisions of Article 34(6) of Law No. 132/2016 on the National Integrity Authority in the wording of Law No. 130/2021 in force as of 29.10.2021 and the Code of Civil Procedure, which expressly provides for the possibility for the Authority to request the seizure of unjustified assets in the context of the administrative dispute action filed by the subject concerned, which has been achieved,” ANI notes.

In January 2022, ANI announced that, as a result of a wealth control initiated in March 2020, it had issued a finding against Vladimir Vitiuc, who had allegedly failed to justify the provenance of the total amount of RON 2,947,659. In the case of former MP Vladimir Vitiuc, the integrity inspector then identified the presence of the hidden difference of 2 268 248 lei, generated in the period 2014-2016 by the purchase of a Land Rover Range Rover model car worth 85 250 euros and by supplementing the family budget with financial means in the form of cash deposits to the bank account/bank card.

During the control, a substantial difference of 679 411 lei was also found, generated in the period 2016-2020 by supplementing the family budget with financial means in the form of cash deposits to the account/bank card.

The former MP was then also found to have violated the correct and complete declaration of assets and personal interests, which is why the criminal body was also to be referred to the criminal authorities. According to ANI, he would not have declared income of over 600 thousand in the form of cash deposits, two rental properties owned with the right of habitation and use in the period 2016-2020, the Land Rover Range Rover model car and the qualities of co-founder of limited liability companies owned by the subject of control until 2017 and 2018 respectively. At the same time, he allegedly included erroneous data about available financial assets in cash that were not subject to deposits in financial institutions, including at the time of filing the asset declarations for 2016 – 2019.

Based on the legal provisions, ANI announced that it was entitled to file a request in court to order the confiscation of the unjustified wealth only of the amount of 679 411 lei. Thus, on February 22, 2022, ANI filed an application against Vitiuc for a finding of unjustified financial assets in the amount of 679,411 lei, after the former MP asked the Chisinau Court of Appeal to annul the ANI’s act of finding issued on his behalf.

Seven months later, on 26 September 2022, the Chisinau Court of Appeal declared inadmissible the counterclaim filed by ANI.

In February 2022, anti-corruption prosecutors carried out several raids on 13 former MPs, targeted in criminal cases initiated on the fact of illicit enrichment investigated in connection with criminal investigations carried out by anti-corruption prosecutors on the fact of bribing some MPs in the Moldovan Parliament to leave the parliamentary faction to which they belonged. Vladimir Vitiuc is one of five former Communist MPs who were detained for 72 hours at the time.