Moldovan parliament dismisses governor of National Bank of Moldova from office

Chisinau, 21 December /MOLDPRES/ - Governor of the National Bank of Moldova Octavian Armasu today was dismissed from office with the votes of 81 lawmakers.  

The dismissal from office of the BNM governor was proposed following the hearings organized by the parliament today on the progress of the actions in the process of recovery of the financial means purloined from the banking system. The document reads that ‘’the insufficient and defective work of the National Bank of Moldova in the context of the audit of the processes and the people involved in the Bank Fraud file.’’ At the same time, the draft decision stimulates that the BNM governor, Octavian Armasu, did not fulfil the conditions of exercising his duties established in the legislation.      

Also at the plenary meeting, the MPs adopted a draft decision worked out by the faction of the Bloc of Communists and Socialists, which sees that the activity of the institutions in charge of the process of recovery of the financial means purloined from the banking system is inefficient and insufficient. Respectively, these institutions will present, in a three-month period, in the parliament’s plenum the actions undertaken to recover the damages from the bank fraud and the subsequent actions, in order to improve the recovery process.   

Hearings on the One-billion-dollar-theft file took place at the parliament today. Representatives of the National Anticorruption Centre, Intelligence and Security Service, Agency for Crime Assets Recovery, National Bank of Moldova unveiled information on the progress made in the process of recovery of the financial means purloined from the banking system. At the same time, the decision-makers answered lawmakers’ questions. Also today, representatives of the Prosecutor General’s Office presented information at a closed meeting organized by the commission for economy, budget and finances and the juridical commission for appointments and immunities.        

Under the law on BNM, the governor is dismissed from office at a proposal by the parliament speaker, with the votes of two thirds of the MPs elected.  

Octavian Armasu has been holding the position of Governor of the National Bank of Moldova since 30 November 2018.