Former Moldovan detained premier to be transferred to Lipcani penitentiary

Chisinau, 15 November /MOLDPRES/ - The former prime minister, Vlad Filat, sentenced to nine years of imprisonment for influence peddling and passive corruption, will be transferred from the Chisinau-based penitentiary No 13 to the penitentiary No 2 from Lipcani, north-western Moldova.

Contacted by MOLDPRES, the spokesperson for the Penitentiary Institutions Department (DIP), Ana Botez, has said that “after the Court of Appeal issued the ruling, DIP has at its disposal 15 days to carry out the transfer from a penitentiary to another. In this respect, the leadership of the institution in the near time is to issue an instruction on when the detainee’s transfer will take place.”     

The lawyers of Vlad Filat submitted an application to DIP, thereby demanding that the ex-prime minister not be transferred, but further detained at the penitentiary No 13 from Chisinau.  

The former prime minister Vlad Filat was detained on 15 October last year, based on a self-denunciation by Ilan Shor, who said he would have given the ex-premier bribe worth 250 million dollars, - charges rejected by Filat. He has been under preventive arrest for almost eight months, on charges of influence peddling and passive corruption in the file of Banca de Economii (Savings Bank) frauds.

On 27 June 2016, the court of first instance sentenced Filat to nine years of imprisonment in a closed prison. On 11 November, the Court of Appeal maintained in force the decision of judges of the Buiucani district court of Chisinau on the detention term. Yet, the Court partially admitted lawyers’ contestations on the confiscation of the former prime minister’s wealth. The defence side said it would appeal the decision of the Court of Appeal at the Supreme Court of Justice in the term set by the law.   

(Reporter P. Beregoi, editor M. Jantovan)