Moldovan former acting prosecutor general detained by law-enforcers

Chisinau, 11 October /MOLDPRES/ - The former acting prosecutor general, Andrei Pintea, today was detained by the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office for 72 hours, on suspicion of abuse of power. The head of the press service at the Prosecutor General’s Office (PG), Maria Vieru, has confirmed the information for MOLDPRES.     

“Andrei Pintea is accused of having illegally transferred the file of the so-called thief in law, Grigore Karamalak, alias Bulgaru against whom a charge was brought in Moldova for having led a criminal ring in 1990s. The ring committed a string of murders, robberies, extortion of money and banditry,” Vieru said.     

In 2008, Grigore Karamalak got the Russian citizenship, although he had been put on a wanted list in 1998. In February 2014, the prosecutor general’s office submitted the file of Grigore Karamalak to Russia, where he was discharged.   

Andrei Pintea was dismissed from the office of deputy prosecutor general on 2 March 2015. On the same period, he was appointed to the position of deputy acting prosecutor of the Chisinau municipality, under an order by the prosecutor general Corneliu Gurin.      

Prosecutors are to demand that the court extends the warrant of arrest for the suspect.

(Reporter P. Beregoi, editor M. Jantovan)