Officers of the Moldova’s National Anticorruption Center (NAC), under the procedural leadership of the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office, detained a state secretary from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry and the representative of an economic agent in a criminal case initiated on corruption charges.
According to evidence collected in the case, the representative of the economic agent allegedly sent funds to the Secretary of State so he could influence responsible persons within the National Food Safety Agency (ANSA) in order to resume the import permit for poultry and animal feed from Ukraine. Previously, the import procedure had been suspended by the ANSA following irregularities found during the controls carried out.
Media outlets reported the official detained is Tatyana Nistorica. Minister of the Agricultural and Food Industry Ludmila Catlabuga said she intends to initiate dismissal procedures for Nistorica.
“I firmly condemn any form of corruption and will not tolerate abuse or favoritism in any capacity,” Catlabuga said in a report.
Anti-corruption prosecutors and NAC officers are conducting searches in the service office of the state secretary within the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry, as well as at other addresses, in order to accumulate and consolidate evidence.
