Svetlana Mocan had been involved in the Russian money-laundering scheme known as the Laundromat, in which numerous fictive debts of Russian companies were turned into real ones thanks to Moldovan judges and then hidden in offshore jurisdictions. RISE Moldova revealed that in 2011-14 almost 17 billion dollars had passed through the bank account of Svetlana Mocan. With court orders in her hands, Mrs. Mocan received the money from Russian companies and transferred it further to UK-registered entities.

For a number of offenses the Anticorruption Prosecution Office pressured for a four-year prison term for Svetlana Mocan, plus an eight-year ban on her employment in public service, but in 2016 the Buiucani District Court acquitted the bailiff. The appeals court ruled for re-trial and ultimately ordered the closure of this case, in January 2019. The Chisinau Court of Appeal commuted the charges from criminal nature to administrative, which are milder, and yet decided not to prosecute Mrs. Mocan for what it cited “legal prescription expiry.” The Supreme Court of Justice maintained this decision.

In another criminal case Svetlana Mocan was investigated in cohort with 14 judges and a bailiff colleague for complicity in the laundering of around 20 billion dollars from Russia via Moldova’s judiciary system. In October 2016 the Ministry of Justice suspended the woman from office.