Five young men suspected of laundering US$1 million

Anticorruption officers arrested two young men on money laundering charges. The warrant for their arrest is valid for 20 days. The suspects are now held at the remand unit of the Center for Combating Corruption and Economic Crime. Another three young men who are suspected of forming part of the same group are still at large, Info-Prim Neo reports. Bogdan Zumbreanu, deputy head of the General Prosecution Division, told a news conference the illegal scheme was discovered in cooperation with the similar services of the U.S., Ireland and Romania. The Moldovan young men organized fraudulent auctions over the Internet and appropriated money from foreign citizens. They offered luxury cars, jewelry and other precious things for sale. The buyers transferred the money to accounts opened by the Moldovans with forged passports in different banks in the U.S., but remained without their purchases. Form the U.S. banks, the money was transferred to accounts opened in Moldovan banks. On July 9, with the help of a Moldovan commercial bank, the anticorruption officers transferred money to the accounts of one of the suspects and later arrested him. The swindlers appropriated an estimated US$1 million. The suspects are aged between 20 and 23. They face five to ten years in jail.