Anticorruption Prosecution started a criminal case following a notification which Ion Diacov, former prosecutor of Chisinau posted on the Corruption Map of portal anticoruptie.md.  This information was confirmed to us by the press service of the General Prosecutor’s office. Ion Diacov requested, in early December, General prosecutor  Eduard Harunjen and former colleagues to  start a criminal case against the chairman of Riscani District Court in Chisinau Oleg Melniciuc and his accomplices for " misappropriation of foreign assets in large proportions by  abuse of job, committed by an organized criminal group". This notification was made after the Center of Investigative Journalism published an investigation about blocks of flats for judges.

According to the investigation, the residential block on the street Hristo Botev 6 in Chisinau, that is currently being built for the magistrates of Rascani District Court in the capital and their children, mother and several relatives of the chairman of the court Oleg Melniciuc  received apartments and commercial  areas in this block. Initially, the magistrate  said that he owned dwellings, he would like some apartments  for his children. He did not buy a flat there, but just a commercial area.  In the same block, by a separate decision and without any request, the chairman of the Superior Council of Magistracy received a flat.

"Journalists have established that the chairman  of Riscani District Court of municipality Chisinau, Oleg Melniciuc under a prior agreement with a group of judges and following the goal of misappropriation of foreign assets, entered into criminal collusion with decision makers from Chisinau City Hall and the management of the company Exfactor Grup SRL,  by “presenting false documents which  showed that a group of judges, which included Oleg Melniciuc, needed and had the right to better living conditions. As a result, the City Hall leased illegally a plot of 60 acres at the market price of 600,000 euros, destined for the construction of an apartment building, without organizing a tender with the right to be subsequently privatized at normative price, by six times lower than the commercial one, which happened later ", reads the denouncement.

Ion Diacov said that Oleg Melniciuc admitted that "he committed abuse of power and helped his mother, Elena Melniciuc, a retired woman who lived and still lives in home village Mandac-Drochia, to buy an apartment in this block, and Oleg Melniciuc purchased commercial areas in the same building.  "Investigations of journalists from Anticoruptie.md portal showed that Oleg Melniciuc’s relatives- Bobeica Ana, Melniciuc Andrei and Melniciuc Aurelia bought apartments in this block. Also, Melniciuc Aurelia bought a commercial are with a surface of 241 square meters.  In this situation, it might appear reasonable the suspicion that the apartments and commercial area purchased  by relatives are actually owned by Oleg Melniciuc, since it is a trivial disguised purchase of the property, without declaring it as private property", said the former prosecutor.

Prosecutors, who filed criminal trial in mid-December, would decide shortly over a criminal case. "I do not know anything. Ion Diacov made a complaint as a citizen. He has every right. I will give explanations, if necessary", said Oleg Melniciuc for journalists from anticoruptie.md.