Proposals on criminal asset recovery discussed in Moldovan parliament

Chisinau, 13 October /MOLDPRES/ – The National Anticorruption Centre (CNA) asks Parliament of Moldova to adopt the Law on criminal asset recovery and to amend the related legislation. The legislative proposals were discussed at parliamentary hearings organized on 13 October 2016, at the request of Parliament Speaker Andrian Candu. Also, it was examined the progress and backlog in implementing the legislative framework which governs the judiciary, the parliament's communication and public relations department has reported. 

The initiative criminal property recovery, elaborated by the working group composed of representatives of the civil society and members of the National Anticorruption Centre for (CNA) is based on the conclusions and recommendations of the expert of the Institute for Governance of Basel, Switzerland, Pedro Gomez Pereira, who conducted an analytical study on the mechanisms of recovery and confiscation of assets in Moldova.

The authors of the initiative propose the creation of an authority to recover the crime property that will have identification skills, retrieval and management of proceeds of criminal activity on the territory of the Republic of Moldova or abroad, and in this respect will work with an international profile. According to the authors, Moldova drags behind on establishment of rules and institutions on assets and property recovery, this being provided by EU law and applied by most European countries.

Speaker Andrian Candu noted that Parliament would work with government and other institutions so that, by the end of the current year to be adopted the legislative framework in order to recover criminal assets.

"It is a topical issue in Moldova, especially in the context of bank fraud and discussions in society on whether or not there will have to suffer the citizen. The legislative proposal is an important contribution in the efforts the state institutions make to recover as quickly and as much of the rigged assets. A review of legislation, and expert analysis led us to conclude that we do not have the necessary legislative framework to efficiently recover the rigged assets," said Andrian Candu.

At her turn, deputy director of CNA, Cristina Tarna said the authorities needed as urgent to create asset recovery service.

"Moldova can no longer afford waiting or delaying the implementation of this service, because in Moldova, often even if in jail you do not pay for your crime," said Cristina Tarna.

The civil society representatives came up with a series of proposals to improve the mechanism, but also referred to several issues aimed at the enforcement of laws of already enacted judicial map, jurisdiction prosecution regarding the low and high corruption.

Also at the hearing, Justice Minister Vladimir Cebotari reviewed the main achievements in the field of justice. The minister said so far, 402 have been completed out of the total 489 actions planned in the Justice Sector Reform Strategy for 2011-2016 and the Action Plan, which is 82,2 per cent. The official said that some shortcomings in implementation of planned actions occurred because certain legislative initiatives were approved late.

"In 2016, it deserves to be highlighted, in particular, 65 actions that were approved as laws. One of the most important is the Law on the reorganization of the courts. Equally important are the laws approved in the sense of strengthening the sector integrity," said Vladimir Cebotari.

At his part, President of the Superior Council of Prosecutors, Mircea Rosioru referred to the need for institutional changes to improve the Prosecutor’s Office image in society, including through more rigorous selection of prosecutors.

The information on actions taken to fight corruption offered Anticorruption chief Prosecutor Viorel Morari, who noted that there were some problems in the implementation of the laws of the institution he leads, but there were identified some temporary and transient solutions.

"The anticorruption prosecutors submitted their best to fulfill the expectations of society, because both civil society, as well as, local authorities has great expectations from the work of prosecutors, and that is our primary commitment. We could say that there results in fighting corruption when there will be condemnation and when polls will show that there is an increased public confidence in the judiciary," said the head of the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office.

Also at the hearing, Parliament Speaker Adrian Candu announced that there started the selection of a candidate for membership in the Council for Integrity and files in the contest can be submitted till 13 November.

(Editor M. Jantovan)