Judge Elena Roibu and lawyer Tatiana Mostovoi-Filimancov, both from Criuleni district, were sentenced to 15 years in jail altogether for bribery. Though the sentence passed by the Ciocana Court in the evening of June 26 takes effect immediately, the two disappeared from the courtroom before the judgment was pronounced. An arrest warrant was issued against the two.

Contacted by IPN, head of the press service of the Ministry of Justice Olga Cebanu said that judge Elena Roibu got 8 years and was banned from holding public posts for a four-year period. She was also obliged to pay a fine of 40,000 lei. Lawyer Tatiana Mostovoi-Filimancov got seven months and a half and was obliged to pay a fine also of 40,000 lei.

Last October, officers of the National Anticorruption Center and anticorruption prosecutors searched the office and home of the judge within an investigation into a case of passive corruption. The judge was accused of asking for and receiving a €2,000 for acquitting two defendants. The judge acted in collusion with the defendants’ lawyer.

Last November, the prosecutors completed the investigation and sent the case to the Criuleni Court. At the request of the prosecutor general, the case was transferred to the Ciocana Court, where it was tried by a panel of three judges.

This is the second case of conviction of a judge of acts of corruption. In the first case, a judge from Telenesti, who was caught taking US$200 from a defendant for acquitting him, was sentenced to seven years behind bars and fined 160,000 lei.