A lawyer from Taraclia, who is a former judge, was apprehended while he was receiving €12,000 from the denouncer. According to the National Anticorruption Center, the money was intended for judges of the Supreme Court of Justice, who were to take a favorable decision concerning a detainee, IPN reports.

The detainee was sentenced to eight years in jail for rape and his wife tried to help him get a milder sentence because she considered her husband was innocent. Intuiting that something was wrong, the convict’s wife denounced the lawyer to the National Anticorruption Center.

The ex-judge faces up to seven years in jail for influence peddling. On May 27, the prosecutors will ask for a 30-day arrest warrant for the lawyer.