Employees of the National Anti-Corruption Center (NAC), together with the Cahul prosecutor’s office, searched several addresses in Chisinau and Orhei municipalities on Tuesday as part of a criminal case against several employees of the State Tax Service. They are suspected of being involved in a systemic corruption scheme.
The criminal case was initiated by the National Anti-Corruption Center on suspicion of committing crimes related to the use of official position for personal gain and passive corruption by employees of the State Tax Service.
According to the investigation, the illegal scheme consisted in the fact that they systematically demanded and received money from business entities for refusal to draw up tax control documents, as well as to document detected violations, or to apply more lenient sanctions. On average, the sums demanded amounted to about 500 euros, depending on the severity of the violations.
As a result of the procedural actions taken, one of the State Tax Service officials was detained for 72 hours, and others are under investigation. Currently, the NAC and the Cahul City Prosecutor’s Office are conducting searches, interrogations and other operational and investigative activities in order to establish the entire network of complicity and document the facts.
The NAC press release emphasizes that it is “open to cooperation and is providing all necessary support to law enforcement agencies in the investigation of this case.” At the same time, the tax authority declares zero tolerance for any manifestation of corruption by tax officials in their activities, and reaffirms its commitment to continue working in the spirit of legality, transparency, fairness and responsibility.
