Head of Moldova's National Anticorruption Center in parliament says crime rings used sophisticated ways, including cryptocurrencies, to influence vote in Moldova

Officers of the National Anticorruption Center (CNA) initiated 20 criminal files in the electoral field last year, targeting over 200 individuals. During special investigative measures, illegal transfers amounting to 20 million lei were documented. At the same time, following searches and other procedural actions, amounts exceeding 22 million lei were seized. CNA director Alexandr Pinzari unveiled data to this effect in the parliament’s plenum today.

According to the cited source, one of the schemes identified concerned the 2025 parliamentary elections.

“A person with multiple citizenships, including the one of Moldova, residing in a foreign jurisdiction, organized and coordinated a complex scheme of illegal financing of certain political parties, with the aim of influencing the elections’ results in favor of specific electoral contenders. Specifically, the network’s coordinator approved the budgets and transferred virtual assets to a trusted individual responsible for managing the financial components. Subsequently, these assets were transferred to an intermediary in Moldova, who, by involving other persons, converted them into cash. The resulting sums were handed over to a local activist, who further distributed them to activists and third parties with political interests. Ultimately, the funds were used to remunerate people involved in promoting the image of certain electoral contenders, to bribe voters in order to secure support for a particular candidate, as well as to mobilize participants for rallies or protests,” said the CNA head.

He specified that, as part of the parallel financial investigations aimed at determining the origin of the virtual assets, a complex transaction scheme carried out via non-custodial crypto wallets (so‑called anonymous wallets) was identified.

“In the process of analyzing virtual assets’ flows, an anonymous wallet used to operate crypto transactions for their conversion into cash was identified. Thus, between 2023 and 2025, transfers in virtual assets totaling over 107 million USDT (the equivalent of one US dollar) were carried out through this wallet. In 2025 alone, transactions worth over 43 million USDT were identified. Checks revealed that the origin of these virtual assets was from two centralized crypto exchange platforms (one located in Russia and another in Kyrgyzstan), with the transactions based on the conversion of virtual assets. In the context, it was established that the crime ring created its own virtual currency, which it then converted, through these platforms, into a cryptocurrency with much greater liquidity and exchange possibilities (USDT), thereby facilitating the integration of the funds into the economic circuit of Moldova,” the official added.

Pinzari also said that decision-makers found that the wallets and accounts linked to the crime ring, which were later subjected to international sanctions, had been  funded, among others, through transfers from accounts opened in the names of citizens of Turkey, Israel, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Azerbaijan and Moldova, which indicates the cross-border nature of the criminal activity and an organized network with international branches.

In conclusion, the CNA head stressed that these cases had involved careful planning and fragmentation of financial flows, in order to avoid detection, and that the institution would continue to treat such cases as a priority, using all legal instruments to document and sanction the corruption of electoral processes.

“Crimes in the electoral field prove a high level of sophistication, adaptation to modern control mechanisms and require a firm, coordinated and sustained response, both in terms of criminal prosecution and international cooperation and legislative strengthening,” concluded the CNA head.