The Balti Court of Appeal Dismisses Case Brought by Moldindconbank Against Adevarul Newspaper

On Tuesday, 14 January, the Balti Court of Appeal dismissed the case brought by Moldindconbank against the Moldovan issue of the Adevarul newspaper, in which it claimed damages of MDL 200,000 following the publication of a journalistic investigation concerning the president of the Chisinau Court of Appeal, judge Ion Plesca, Adevărul Moldova writes.

According to the newspaper’s lawyer Roman Zadoinov, the court dismissed the bank’s claim as unfounded, specifying that the bank’s representatives submitted the document in a wrong manner.

The lawyer also said that the information published by Adevarul in the investigation titled “Judge owing dozens million lei to banks” of 20 September 2012 did not affect the interests of Moldindconbank. “Mass media have the right to publish information about public persons. If the newspaper affected the interests of judge Plesca, it was he who should have gone to court, and not the bank,” Roman Zadoinov added for Adevarul.

Earlier, on 5 June 2013, the Buiucani Court of Chisinau dismissed the bank’s claim in which it was requesting MDL 200,000 for damages. Moldindconbank said that the article published by Adevarul, according to which the apartment of the Plesca family had been repeatedly pledged for credits amounting at MDL 17 million, contains false information that defamed and damaged the reputation of the banks mentioned in it.
Adevarul is also involved in another similar case in court with the other bank mentioned in the article, Victoriabank, whose representatives also claim damages of MDL 200,000.

The newspaper’s investigation article was produced as part of the “Zero Tolerance to Corruption” campaign, conducted by the Journalistic Investigations Center with the support of the Good Governance Program of Soros Moldova.

Photo Source: Adevărul Moldova