“Laundromat” Case: Suspended Judges Demand Compensation of 3.5 Million Lei

Moldovan judges who were under investigation on suspicion of complicity in laundering more than 20 billion dollars from Russia demanded from the state compensation for moral damages in the amount of more than 3.5 million lei. The prosecution against the judges has been discontinued. Some were convicted, others acquitted in the so-called “Laundromat” case. 14 former and current judges, who were previously suspended from office, filed lawsuits for moral damages. The investigation began in 2016, but four years later the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office cancelled the criminal prosecution against the judges, citing a lack of evidence. According to journalistic investigation, the operation to “launder” money from obscure sources in Russia through Moldovan banks could have taken place between 2010 and 2014. Investigators put the amount at $20 billion, but experts following the case estimate that it could have been more than $70 billion.