From October 3, 2022 until now, when the first plenipotentiary court session was held, seven more have been held, two of which were postponed at the request of the accuser and the defense, and three others were interrupted. The prefect of the Ciocana sector of the Capital, Sinilga Şcolnic, and the deputy head of the Police Inspectorate in the same sector, Pavel Todica, have been charged with passive corruption. The case of operation has seen several towers. Initially, on March 31, 2021, the officers of the National Anticorruption Center (CNA) detained Sinilga Școlnic and Pavel Todica. CNA then published discussions in which the two decide “who to play harder”.
The law enforcement officers found that, from April 2020 to 2021, the prefect of the Ciocana sector, having a prior agreement with the deputy head of the Ciocana Police Inspectorate, Pavel Todica, through a senior investigation officer, allegedly claimed and received sums ranging between 5,000 and 10,000 lei from economic agents who set up seasonal terraces on the public or private domain of the municipality of Chisinau and street vendors. In September 2021, the praetor Sinilga Şcolnic was exonerated, and later declared that the file had been fabricated to her order based on political criteria.
“During the last months, being subjected to unprecedented pressure, I constantly pleaded not guilty and I am glad that the truth has triumphed. Now, when the shameful process of denigration and intimidation of me is over, I feel I have the right to open some parentheses about what happened. In fact, those who orchestrated my case pursued two goals: to take revenge on me, because I did not accept to be part of certain political games, but also for my verticality in refusing to be a docile instrument in the struggle that a particular legal institution has with an important magistrate from the Republic of Moldova”, declared Sinilga Şcolnic.
Also then, the praetor from Ciocana thanked the mayor of Chisinau, Ion Ceban, for supporting her during the time she was under criminal investigation: “I highly appreciate the position of the general mayor of Chisinau, Ion Ceban, who gave me given the chance to prove my innocence, although, I know for sure, it has been suggested to him more than once to resort to harsh actions in relation to me in recent months”. In September 2020, ex-president Igor Dodon awarded Sinilgă Şcolnic the “Civic Merit” medal.
AGORA recalls that the case in which the pretor of the Ciocana sector, Sinilga Școlnic, is under criminal investigation for acts of corruption in a state of freedom, was in the criminal investigation phase. On June 1, the preventive measure that was applied to Țcolnic expired, the interim head of the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office (PA), Adrian Bordianu, said recently. Likewise, Bordianu said that after the preventive measure expired, it was not extended. Sinilga Țcolnic stated that since the spring she has not been cited by the prosecutors and that “there is no evidence of acts of corruption in the file”.
