The suspected bribery of the Ukrainian judge Nikolai Chaus, who was in Moldova, was kidnapped by foreigners and taken to Ukraine, Acting Minister of Internal Affairs of Moldova Pavel Voicu said at a briefing.
Moldovan President Maia Sandu said on Monday that the suspected bribery Ukrainian judge Chaus was missing in the republic, she asked the Ministry of Internal Affairs to investigate the situation.
“We have one detainee, we found the cars used by the abductors, collected fingerprints, found their correspondence, identified some of the abductors and their route. There is strong evidence that these were foreigners who had already crossed the border with Ukraine”, – said Voiku.
He noted that the criminals’ correspondence was found, who communicated in the Ukrainian language. Moldovan law enforcement agencies will contact their colleagues from Kiev to cooperate in the investigation.
Chaus was arrested in August 2016 in Ukraine while receiving $150,000 in a bribe for a judgment in favor of the defendant. The law enforcement officers were unable to arrest the judge because of his judicial immunity. Later, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine agreed to his arrest, but by that time the judge had left the country. The Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine reported that the judge was detained on the territory of Moldova. Chaus asked for political asylum in the republic. The country’s Supreme Court of Justice plans to consider this issue at the end of April.