Three employees of local subdivisions of the National Food Safety Agency (NFSA) in Dubasari and Criuleni and two individuals were found guilty of passive corruption, active corruption and forgery in public documents. Two of the NFSA officials were sentenced to 7 years and 6 months in prison and 7 years in prison, respectively. The third employee and the two individuals avoided punishment in connection with the expiration of the statute of limitations, IPN reports.

According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, between September 2018 and February 2019, the three NFSA employees implemented an illicit scheme for issuing phytosanitary certificates for the export of fruit and vegetables to the Russian Federation. The officials requested and received between $50 and $90 for each certificate issued. In total, the accused persons in the period illegally received about 700,000 lei. These actions allowed exporting batches of agricultural products to the Russian Federation, without complying with the imposed phytosanitary requirements, based on false phytosanitary certificates.

The criminal investigation lasted one year and four months, while the trial of the case lasted more than four years, being examined according to the general procedure. The defendants did not admit their guilt.

The two NFSA employees are to serve their sentence for passive corruption in a closed prison. In both cases, the court imposed on them a fine of 400,000 lei and banned them from holding public office for a period of 10 years. Two other convicts must pay a fine of 300,000 lei each.

Also, special confiscation of the amount of 681,637.87 lei from the three employees was ordered, as the equivalent value of the money resulting from the crimes. The money seized during the search ($3,400) will be transferred to the state budget when the sentence becomes final.

The sentence can be appealed to the Chisinau Court of Appeals.