Vladimir Andronachi and Victor Osipov remain in preventive detention for 30 more days in the “duty-free” case
Former Member of Parliament Vladimir Andronachi and former Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration Victor Osipov will remain in pretrial detention for an additional 30 days. The judges made this decision in connection with the case involving the establishment of duty-free shops in the Transnistrian region and allegations of abuse of power. This information was confirmed by Emil Gaitur, spokesperson for the Prosecutor's Office for Combating Organised Crime and Special Cases (PCCOCS) for Teleradio-Moldova.
According to PCCOCS, the legislation of the Republic of Moldova was allegedly "illegally adapted" to allow these operations that in fact covered a smuggling scheme with excised products, especially cigarettes.
Thus, under the cover of the duty-free regime, excised goods were illegally introduced into the Republic of Moldova, and the fictitious documents indicated the Transnistrian region as the final destination.
The mechanism was integrated into a legislative project for which the Government assumed responsibility.
After the law entered into force, the system allegedly allowed the introduction of goods without the full payment of taxes, resulting in significant losses to the state budget, estimated at about 4 billion lei.
To gather evidence, two criminal cases were opened in 2021-2022.
The former Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration and former Ambassador of the Republic of Moldova to Austria, Victor Osipov, is accused of abuse of office. Prosecutors claim that, in his responsible position in the Government, he facilitated the implementation of the scheme in the interests of the criminal group.
Victor Osipov, through his lawyer, said that he rejects all charges.
Vladimir Andronachi, who is under criminal investigation in several cases, pleaded not guilty and said that "prosecutors are making fun of him.
The third suspect, also placed in custody in the same case, also claims he did not commit the acts charged.
A previous investigation by the Moldovan Center for Investigative Journalism revealed the true size of such a scheme. According to journalists, two companies from the Transnistrian region imported cigarettes worth over $20 million in 2020 without paying taxes. The estimated damage for that year reached $60.2 million.
In the first nine months of 2020, over 3.3 billion cigarettes were imported into the Republic of Moldova. According to calculations, imports exceeded the Transnistrian region's actual market needs by approximately three times, raising suspicions of massive smuggling.
At the same time, the investigation also showed that a significant portion of the cigarettes imported into the region was illegally redirected to Moldova, Ukraine, Romania, Poland, and other EU states, including companies connected to politically influential individuals involved in the scheme.
