Moldovan anticorruption centre says notaries' incomes exceed average revenues on economy by tens of times

Chisinau, 27 September /MOLDPRES/ - The average incomes of notaries in 2015 exceed the average revenues on the economy of civil servants by tens of times, according to a study conducted by the National Anticorruption Centre (CNA) based on the notary work.  

The CNA press service has said that the deficit of vacancies in the notary system made access to this profession impossible and led to a high risk of corruptibility. “At the same time, the existence of taxes for getting the notary licence depending on the territorial position of the working place is conveyed or persons close to civil servants and relatives of notaries are promoted. At the same time, the limiting of  the number of notaries directly lead increase in the tariffs for the services provided, their quality being also affected,” the CNA press service noted.    

The tariffs collected by notaries run counter the provisions of the law on the methodologies of calculating the payment for notary services, the study also reads. The applicants for the services are imposed to bear additional expenses, disproportionate to the traded goods.

The study reads that access to practicing the profession of notary is limited artificially; a bachelor of laws has practically no chances to become a notary, for reasons that the vacant offices or the right to probation is limited. Relatives of present notaries, judges or other state officials are mostly admitted to practicing the profession of notary. And the limiting of the number of notaries based on quantitative criteria lead to an increase in prices and worsening of the quality of the notary services.   

Also, the territorial distribution of notaries is not proportional to the number of residents, with 50 per cent of the notaries working in Chisinau, where the density is thrice higher than the average on Moldova. For these reasons, there is a shortage of notaries in some districts, and the residents are facing lack of specialists in the sector.  

According to information published on the webpage of the Justice Ministry, about 300 public notaries are presently registered in Moldova. Most of them work in Chisinau (147), Balti (16) and Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia (10). The fewest notaries are in the districts of Donduseni, Glodeni, Taraclia and Criuleni – one notary in each district.  

(Reporter A. Plitoc, editor A. Raileanu)