Moldova Sees Rise in Corruption Cases Resulting in Prison Sentences

In Moldova, more than 38 per cent of corruption cases result in actual prison sentences

In Moldova, there has been a marked increase in the proportion of corruption cases in which the courts impose custodial sentences. Whilst in 2020 only 6 per cent of criminal cases heard resulted in actual imprisonment, this figure now exceeds 38 per cent.

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These figures were cited by Marcel Dumbravan, Chief Prosecutor of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, during a panel discussion entitled ‘Judicial Reform and the Fight against Corruption: From Commitments to Results’, which took place as part of the conference on European Union enlargement.

According to Dumbravan, in 2026 alone, 51 people were sentenced to actual terms of imprisonment. A further 37 defendants were fined. The prosecutor emphasised that imprisonment with actual serving of the sentence is increasingly being used as a punishment.

He also reported that, in the first ten months of the year, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office secured 88 convictions against 128 individuals. Furthermore, the total amounts of fines and confiscations increased approximately twenty-fold compared with 2020.

The head of the agency also focused specifically on compensation for damages to the state. According to his figures, in two criminal cases this year, the courts accepted civil claims in favour of the state totalling more than 2.4 billion lei.

The speech took place at the annual conference on EU enlargement up to 2026. The event was organised by the Bureau for European Integration, the Institute for European Policy and Reforms (IPRE) and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES), with the participation of Moldovan and international organisations.

This story was translated with the assistance of artificial intelligence.

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