The former director of the National Center of Legal Expertise, the vice director and an expert of the institution will stand trial for abusing power by rigging the tender contest to purchase equipment for the DNA lab, IPN has learned from the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office.

In 2013, the Center’s expert, acting in the name of his chiefs, assured a Romanian company that it will be favored at the tender contest to buy equipment for the DNA testing lab. To substantiate his assertions, he organized an unofficial visit to the Ministry of Health and the Forensic Center for representatives of the Romanian company.

As a result of discussions, it was agreed to compile the technical requirements so that the parameters of the required medical equipment coincided with those of the equipment proposed by the Romanian firm. Consequently, the held tender contest minimized competition and favored the given company. Furthermore, the equipment purchased for over 9.76 million lei could not fully ensure the functionality of the lab, while the technology that was to be used at this hasn’t been validated by the international human identification community and the lab cannot be thus accredited.

Moldova is now the only state in Europa that does not have such equipment and has to use the relevant services of other states, incurring high costs.

The culprits face six to ten years in jail and ban on holding particular posts or performing particular activities for 10 to 15 years.