15TH UNAFEI UNCAC TRAINING PROGRAMMEPARTICIPANTS’
PAPERSPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERSPREVENTION AND THE FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION IN MOLDOVA
Ludmila Petru Popa*

I. INTRODUCTION
Corruption is a very serious social phenomenon which takes different and complex forms, being observed
at different levels of society. It represents a major threat for democracy, for social equity, for justice system aswell as the social, economic and political development of the society.
Another basic characteristic of the corruption is that it affects all states, regardless of their level ofdevelopment.
In the Republic of Moldova the phenomenon of corruption has extended quite rapidly and nowadays
affects different fields, i.e. economic, political and social life.

A. Moldova Performance Diagnostic
Looking at recent results of the different studies, surveys and different international rankings it can bedetected a high level of infection with the so called “corruption virus”. For instance, in accordance with
the Index of the perception of Corruption, which is calculated annually by Transparency International the
population and international community regards Republic of Moldova as a country with a high level ofcorruption. Since 1999 the value of the above mentioned Index oscillated between 2.1 and 3.3 on a scale of 0
to 10 (Table 1. )The Global Corruption Barometer from 2010, prepared as well annually by Transparency International,
indicates that almost 37% of the respondents from Republic of Moldova offered bribe during last 12 months(the average for former post soviet states being 32% and for European Union states – just 5%). The analysis* Senior adviser, Drafting normative acts division, General Legislation Directorate, Ministry of Justice, Republic of Moldova.

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of the data from previous Global Corruption Barometer shows that the percentage of respondents whooffered bribe increased and in 2010 it reached the highest level (Table 2).

According to the same survey in 2010, the most corrupted institutions of the state are considered to be
on a scale from 0 to 5, the Ministry of Home Affairs – 4.1, justice system -3.9, political parties and public
servants- 3.8, Parliament, educational system and private sector – 3.7.
The Barometer of Public Opinion prepared by the Institute of Public Policies reveals that during the lastten years, corruption maintains its position in the top of the concerns of the population, occupying the fifth
place, just after the individual’s problems how to survive (Table 3 and Table 4).

The same survey reveals that the society considers the fight against corruption as one of the mostimportant tasks of Moldova along with economic development, maintaining order and increasing thestandards of living.
The value of the World Bank Institute’s Control Corruption Indicator for Republic of Moldova has been
constantly decreasing during 1999 to 2004, from 55% to 16%. Beginning with 2005 till 2007, there havebeen registered a light increase from 31% to 35%. Still in the following years the above mentioned indicator
decreased, and in 2009 the indicator “The control of corruption” reached the value of 26%.
During 2005-2007, the Global Index of Economic Freedom calculated annually by Heritage Foundation(HF) registered a slight improvement of the freedom level from 57.4 to 58.7, after which followed a decline,
reaching in 2011 the level of 55.7, placing the Republic of Moldova in the list of states with economy withprevailing lack of freedom. The outspread of corruption and poor capacities of the state to suppress it
efficiently are among the causes of impoverishment of the population and economic stagnation. 1

1 National Anticorruption Strategy for 2011-2015, adopted by the Parliament on 21 July 2011.

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B. Moldova’s View on Corruption and Undertaken Measures
Bearing in mind the high level of corruption the 2008-2011 National Development Strategy (hereinafter
NDS), endorsed by Law No 295-XVI from 21 December 2007, declares the need of certain regulatory,organizational and practical measures in order to reduce the level of corruption and to generate a higher
level of trust of the population in sectors perceived to be most affected by this phenomenon. Reiterating
the direct social-economic consequences and stagnation in the development of the country, NDS qualifies
as primary area the prevention and combating of corruption and related phenomena, such as excessive
bureaucracy, protectionism, abuse of power, excessive state regulations and controls, non-loyal competition,
etc.
The Plan ”Rehabilitating Moldova” is one of the main documents, which contains midterm development
priorities and based on which considerable foreign assistance indispensable to promoting reforms
and ensuring the development of the country was negotiated. The Plan foresees the approval andimplementation of a new anti-corruption strategy. The anti-corruption objective is included in the 2009-2011
Program for Stabilization and Economic Rehabilitation of the Republic of Moldova, approved by Government
Decision No 790 from 1 December 2009, which allowed the unblocking of foreign funding and expanding ofcooperation with foreign donors.
The 2011-2014 Activity Program of the Government of the Republic of Moldova “European Integration:
Liberty, Democracy, and Welfare” maps out as a priority strengthening of the national system of integrity
and fight against corruption, establishing the following governance objectives:(i) improving the legal framework for a more effective prevention and fight against corruption in the
public system;(ii) reforming the existing institutional framework for preventing and combating corruption;(iii) improving the mechanisms of cooperation with civil society.
These objectives found its reflection in the National Anticorruption Strategy for 2011-2015, Strategy on
the reform of justice sector for 2011-2016 and the Plan of actions for the implementation of the Strategy on
the reform of justice sector for 2011-2015.

II. LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR PREVENTING AND FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION
A. Current Situation
As it was mentioned above in order to ensure an effective and real prevention and combating corruption,
Republic of Moldova had undertaken legislative measures in order to create an adequate legal frameworkand to adopt policy documents which set up the course of the fight against corruption2.
Today the legal framework on combating corruptions includes the following normative acts:
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•

Criminal Code of Republic of Moldova, adopted by Law no. 985-XV, 18 April 2002;
Law no. 1104-XV on the Centre for Combating Economic Crimes and Corruption , 6 June 2002;
Law no. 1264-XV on the Declaration and Monitoring of the Income and Property of the Dignitaries,
Judges, Prosecutors, Public Servants and Certain Persons holding Managerial Positions, 19 July
2002;
Criminal Procedure Code of Republic of Moldova, adopted by Law no. 122-XV, 14 March 2003;
Law no 332- XVI on the amendment of certain legislative acts, 10 November 2006;
Law no. 96-XVI on Public Procurement, 13 April 2007;
Law no. 190- XVI on Prevention and Fight against Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing, 26
July 2007;
Law no. 294-XVI on Political Parties, 21 December 2007;

2 The intention to adopt a policy document establishing future directions for the fight against corruption was materialized in

2004 by the adoption of the National Strategy for the Prevention and Combating of Corruption, approved by the Decision of
the Parliament no 241-XV dated 16 December 2004.

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•
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Law No. 271-XVI on Verification of Holders and Candidates to Public Functions, 18 February 2008;
Law no. 16-XVI on Conflict of Interests, 15 February 2008;
Law no. 25-XVI on the Code of Conduct of the Public Servants, 22 February 2008;
Law no. 90-XVI on Prevention and Fight Against Corruption, 25 April 2008;
Law no. 158-XVI on Public Service and the Statute of Public Servant, 4 July 2008;
Contravention Code of Republic of Moldova, adopted by Law no. 218-XVI, 24 October 2008;
Law no. 239-XVI on Transparency of Decision Making Process, 13 November 2008;
Law no. 269-XVI. on the application of the lie detector, 12 December 2008;
Law no. 180 on the National Integrity Commission, 19 December 2011;
Law no. 230 on the amendment of certain legislative acts, 25 December 20113;•

Law no. 277 on the amendment of certain legislative acts, 25 December 20114;•

Decision of the Parliament no. 154 on the approval of National anticorruption Strategy for 2011-2015,
27 July 2011;
Law no. 231 on the approval of the Strategy on the reform of justice for 2011-2016, 25 December
2011;
Decision of the Parliament no. 6 on the approval of the Action Plan for the implementation of theStrategy on the reform of justice for 2011-2016, 16 February 2012;•••

Decision of the Parliament no. 12 on the approval of the Action plan for 2012-2013 for the implementationof the National anticorruption Strategy for 2011-2015, 17 February 2012;•

Law no. 59 on special activity of investigation, 29 March 2012.

In addition to the adoption of the national legal framework Moldova joined several key international
instruments on combating corruption, including the UN Convention against Corruption5, a set of Council ofEurope’s instruments. For example Moldova ratified Civil Law Convention on Corruption6 and Criminal Law
Convention on Corruption7, Council of Europe Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscationof the Proceeds from Crime8, Convention on Money Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of theProceeds from Crime 9, UN Convention against Translational Organized Crime10 and its two protocols.
1. Definition of Corruption and Classification of Corruption Offences and Sanctions
Criminal Code and the Law on prevention and fight against corruption are the main acts that give thedefinition of corruption and the list of the corruption offences.
Article 2 of the Law on prevention and fight against corruption the term of corruption means „any illegal
act that affects the normal execution of the functions and which consists either in the use by the subject of
the corruption acts or which have a corruptibility character of its function by asking, receiving or accepting,directly or indirectly, for personal use or the use of another person of certain material gains, or for the illegal
promising, offering and giving of such gains to the subject of corruption acts”. Further, article 16 paragraph(2) of the same Law prescribes the list of corruption offences: active corruption, passive corruption, trading
influence, taking bribes, giving bribes. Paragraph (3) of the same article states that are considered to beacts connected to corruption: abuse of functions, illicit enrichment, obstruction of justice, embezzlement ofproperty etc. Still, the definition and the elements of the corruption offences are provided by Criminal Code3 This law regards the gifts received by public servants and their statute.

4 It represent the legislative act that provide for wistle-blower protection and reporting of the commision of corruption crimes.
5 Law no. 158-XVI regarding the ratification of UN Convention Against Corruption of 6 July 2007.

6 Law no. Nr. 542-XV on ratification of Civil Law Convention on Corruption of 19 December 2003.
7 Law no. Nr. 428 on ratification of Criminal Law Convention on Corruption of 30 October 2003.

8 Law no. 165-XVI on ratification of Council of Europe Convention on laundering, search, seizure and confiscation of theproceeds from crime of 13 July 2007.
9 Law no. 914-XV on ratification of Convention on laundering, search, seizure and confiscation of the proceeds from crime.
10 Law no. 15-XV on ratification of UN Convention against translational organized crime of 17 February 2005.

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of Republic of Moldova11. Criminal Code provides for two categories of corruption crimes. This classification
is based on who is the offender. So, in case the offender is a public official, then the corruption crimes areprovided by Chapter XV “Crimes against well functioning of the activity in public sector”, Special part of the
Criminal Code. These crimes are:
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Passive Corruption (Article 324);
Active corruption (Article 325);
Trading of influence (Article 326);
Abuse of power or abuse of official position (Article 327);
Excess of power or excess of official authority (Article 328);
Negligent performance of duties (Article 329);
Violation of the confidentiality regime of information from the declarations of assets and property(Article 3301);
Forgery of public documents (Article 332).

On the other hand, in case the crime was committed by private persons they are included in Chapter XVI“Corruption crimes in private sector” of the Special part of the Criminal Code. This Chapter includes thefollowing crimes:••••

Taking bribes (Article 333);
Giving bribes (Article 334);
Abuse of official positions (Article 335);
Forgery in accountability documents (Article 3351).

Also, Criminal Code establishes several other offences that have connection with corruption crimes, butthey are listed in other Chapters of criminal law. As an example we could bring the following crimes:••••

Fraud (Article 190);
Money Laundering (Article 243);
Receipt of an Illegal Remuneration for the Performance of Public Service Works (Article 256);
False declarations (Article 3521).

Most of the above mentioned provisions lately suffered changes, i.e. in December 2011, in order to alignthem to the provisions of the UN Convention against corruption and several other international instruments.
Beside the amendment of crime description Criminal Code, in order to ensure the correct understandingof notion “national public official” article 123 of the Criminal code was amended in order to correspond toarticle 15 of the UN Convention against corruption. With the same purpose a new article 1231 “Foreign
public official and official of a public organization” was enclosed in criminal law.
In accordance with the sanctions that are established by the criminal law most of the corruption offences
can considered to be less serious crimes, i.e. crimes for which criminal law provides for a maximum
punishment by imprisonment for a term up to 5 years inclusively. For all corruption offences criminallaw provides the application of the deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or to practice certain
activities up to 5 years.
Several other corruption acts or acts related to corruption are prescribed by Contravention Code ofRepublic of Moldova, namely:••••

Abuse of power or abuse of official position (Article 312);
Excess of power or excess of official authority (Article 313);
Protectionism (Article 3131);
Failure to declare the conflict of interest (Article 3132);

11 Criminal Code of Republic of Moldova, adopted by Law No. 985-XI dated 18 April 2002, Special Part, Chapter XV (art. 324-335) and Chapter XVI (art. 333-335).

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•
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•
•

Excess power in regard to permissive acts (Article 3133);
Concealment of an act of corruption or acts related to corruption or failure to take the necessary
measures (Article 314);
Failure to apply protection measures for the public servant (Article 3141);
Receiving an illegal reward or financial profit (Article 315).

2. Corruption Prevention Tools(i) Anticorruption Expertise
According to the Law no 332-XVI on the amendments of certain legislative acts all drafts of normativeacts (law drafts or drafts of Government decisions) before being forwarded to Government for approval
have to pass anticorruption expertise. This expertise is meant to ensure compliance of all drafts law to thenational and international anti-corruption standards and prevention of new regulations that favor or facilitate
corruption, by making recommendations to exclude such provisions from the draft or to reduce their effects.
In accordance to article 6 of the Regulation on the organization of the process of execution of anticorruption
expertise of the legislative and normative acts’ drafts, approved by Government on 23 August 2006,
anticorruption expertise is done by the Centre for Combating Economic Crimes and Corruption.

(ii) Mechanisms to Ensure Integrity in Public Sector
Strong moral and ethical values are critical factors to ensure and sustain organizational credibility, efficiency
and to earn higher level of public trust and confidence. This is why Moldova adopted measures that aim toensure integrity in public sector by setting and implementing clear rules of conduct for public officials.
(a) Code of Conduct of Public Servants
In 2008, Moldova’s Parliament adopted the Law on the Code of Conduct of the Public Servants whichgoverns the conduct of civil servants while they exercise their activity in public office. Code aims toestablish rules of conduct in public service and inform citizens about the behavior which they can expectfrom a public servant and help the prevention and eradication of corruption in public administration, as wellas the creation of a climate of trust between citizens and public authorities. Rules of conduct under the Codeare mandatory for all civil servants.12
The violation of the provisions of the above mentioned law, except the ones that regulate the acceptanceof gifts and the conflict of interests, constitutes misconduct and can serve as a ground for the application of
disciplinary sanctions.
The violation of the provisions that regards the acceptance of gifts shall be punished in accordance toCriminal Code, but the violations of the provisions regarding the conflict of interest shall be punished underarticle 251 of the Law on conflict of interests.
(b) Regulations on Conflict of Interests
Law on Conflict of Interests establishes the obligation to present annually the declaration of personal
interests and to declare each conflict of interest, each time when it appears while a public servant takes adecision or is suppose to take a decision, regardless of its rank.
Declaration of personal interests shall include information concerning:••••

the remunerated professional activities;
the participation of the declaring person within nonprofit organizations or political parties as afounder of the nonprofit organization or political party, or as a member of the board, of administrative,
maintenance and audit bodies;
the participation of the declaring person as associate or shareholder of a credit institution or financial
institution or insurance organizations;the relations with international organizations.

The declarations of personal interests have a public character, meaning that they will be published on the
12 Law on the Code of Conduct of the Public Servants, article 1.

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website of the National Integrity Commission and they will be verified by the same Commission.
The conflict of interests of the public servants shall be solved by their superiors, but in the case of highofficial the conflict of interests shall be solved by the National Integrity Commission. The decisions takenwith the violation of the provisions of the Law on conflict of interest can be declared null by the court.
(c) Regulations Concerning Gifts
In accordance with article 11 of the Law on the code of conduct of the public servants the civil servant
shall not seek or accept gifts, services, favors, invitations or any other advantage for himself or his family.
Still during the performance of his/her duties a public servant can receive symbolic or politeness gifts orgifts received on the occasion of certain protocol actions and whose value does not exceed the limits set by
the Government.
The gifts whose value exceeds the above mentioned limits are submitted in the administration of
public authority and should be entered in a special register kept by each public authority. If the casethe public servant wants to keep the gift he/she has to pay the value of the gift. The assessment,
recording, storage, use and redemption of the received gift is regulated by the Government.
(d) Duties to Declare Assets and Property
Law on the declaration and monitoring of the income and property of the high officials, judges, prosecutors,
public servants and certain persons holding managerial positions establishes the obligation for dignitaries,
judges, prosecutors, public servants and certain persons holding managerial positions to declare annually
their assets and property, and the assets and property of their family members. Also the law provides how
to declare and exercise control over income and assets of high public officials, judges, prosecutors, civil
servants and persons of managerial. As in the case of the declarations of personal interests the declarationsof public servants high public officials, judges, prosecutors, civil servants and persons of managerial aretransparent and will be posted on the website of the National Integrity Commission. Still there are some
exceptions from the principle of transparency, namely the information from the declarations that contains
personal data of the declaring person will not be published.
(e) Verification of Holders and Candidates to Public Functions
Law on Verification of Holders and Candidates to Public Functions brings establishes the principles, goals,
procedures, forms and methods of verification of information on the Moldovan citizens who hold public office
or apply for a public function. Verification is done with in strict compliance with principle of legality, respect ofhuman rights and fundamental freedoms, fair, objective and non-discriminatory treatment of candidates that
apply for a public office.
The purpose of such verification is the prevention and fight against corruption in public authorities,
determination of the achievements of the applicants for employment requirements and compliance with therestrictions established by law and the prevention, detection and exclusion of risk factors.
(f) Application of Lie Detector
In order to exclude the employment of persons that may be exposed to corruption acts in institutions,where the level of perception of corruption is high, such as Centre for Combating Crimes and Corruptions,
Ministry of Home Affairs, Customs service the legislator in 2008 adopted the Law on the application of thelie detector. In accordance with the law there are two types of testing with lie detector, compulsory andvoluntary.
Subject to mandatory testing are people who get employed or work the Ministry of Internal Affairs, theCentre for Combating Economic Crimes and Corruption, Security and Intelligence Service and the Customs
Service.	    Voluntary testing can be initiated by Ministry of Internal Affairs, Centre for Combating Economic Crimes
and Corruption, Security and Intelligence Service and the Customs Service and it can be carried out if thereis the written consent of the person. Such testing can be initiated by the above mentioned institutions within
operative investigations.

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According to article 12 of the Law on the Code of Conduct of the Public Servants public servants who will
inform in good faith about the commission of acts of corruption, corrupt behavior, failures to declare income
and property and violations of the provisions regarding conflict of interests, shall benefit from the following
measures protection, applied separately or cumulatively, as follows:
a)
b)
c)

presumption of good faith until proven otherwise;
the confidentiality of personal data;transfers under Law no. 158-XVI of 4 July 2008 on the public office and status of civil servant.

For the information in good faith regarding the commission of a corruption offence the public servant
cannot be the subject of disciplinary sanctions.

(iii) Risk Assessment of Corruption in Public Administration Authorities
In accordance with article 7 paragraph (4) of the Law on prevention and fight against corruption institutional
corruption risk assessment is carried out as prescribed by the Government, and it aims to identify organizational
factors that favor or can favor corruption and make recommendations to exclude the effects of such risks.
Later on in Government’s Decision no. 906 of 28 July 2008, all central authorities of the public administration
were obliged to carry out the corruption risk assessment of their institution during 2008-2011 and report theresults. Nowadays, there is an attempt to apply the same obligation in regard to local public administration
authorities.

B. Problems and Solutions
1. Lack of Implementation Mechanisms for Adopted Laws
Even if the list of the legislative framework of Republic of Moldova in the field of fighting corruption
looks quite impressive, in reality most of the acts listed above, after the adoption did not show any effect in
the first years, mainly due to the lack of a clear application mechanism. That is the main reason why few ofthem had to suffer additional changes in order to make them functional.
(i) Law on Conflict of Interests
In the case of the Law on the conflict of interest, despite of the fact that it was written in the law that a
specialized Commission should be created for the supervision of the application of the law, this body was
not created, and only December 2011 the Parliament disposed through Law no. 180 of 19 December 2011
the creation of the National Integrity Commission. Also, even if in the law each public servant was obliged
to submit annually a declaration of personal interests, since 2011 there was no adopted model of suchdeclaration, because according to the provisions of the law this model had to be approved by the non-created
Commission.
In accordance with the latest amendments, the National Integrity Commission was declared responsible
for the control of the application of the law, and the respective model of the declaration was inserted in thelaw as well.
Still, the adoption of the above mentioned amendments did not change the situation, because National
Commission of Integrity even if it was created by law, it did not start its activity, fact that leaves the Law on
the conflict of interests without any implementation mechanisms again.

(ii) L aw on the Declaration and Monitoring of the Income and Property of the High Officials, Judges,
Prosecutors, Public Servants and Certain Persons holding Managerial Positions
The law was several time criticized during GRECO evaluation rounds, stating that the existing mechanisms
for the declaration of assets and property is not efficient and it does not allow to make any difference between
the assets of the public servants and the assets of the members of their family. Moreover, there was no
permanent, effective body responsible for the verification and control of the declaration of assets and property.
Still, the adoption of the above mentioned amendments did not change the situation, because National

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Commission of Integrity even if it was created by law, it did not start its activity.

(iii) Law on Code of Conduct of Public Servants
Article 11 of the law prescribes, that public servants can receive while they perform their activity
symbolic or politeness gifts, or “protocol gifts” in the amount established by the Government. Also inparagraph (4) of the same article it is established that the recording, storage, use and redemption of gifts
is regulated by the Government. The above mentioned provisions are in force now but they could not beapplied yet because Government hasn’t approved yet the necessary acts for implementation.
Solutions:•

The preparation and adoption in the same package of the Draft Law itself and all other legislative
amendments that are necessary afterwards or to postpone the application of the adopted law till the
moment when the mechanisms for implementation will be created;•

Offering the financial and administrative support to the National Integrity Commission to start its
activity;•

The approval of the Regulation on recording, storage, use and redemption of gifts and the establishmentof the limits of the gifts that could be received.

2. Lack of a Stable Anti-Corruption Legal Framework, Coherent and Adjusted to International Standards
Also, another issue in regard to the existing legal framework in the field of prevention and fight against
corruption is the existence of certain uncertainties in the laws.

(i) L aw on conflict of interests and the Law on the Declaration and Monitoring of the Income and Propertyof the High Officials, Judges, Prosecutors, Public Servants and Certain Persons holding Managerial
Positions
Even if by the adoption of Law no 180 from 19 December 2011, the Law on conflict of interests andthe Law on the Declaration and Monitoring of the Income and Property of the High Officials, Judges,
Prosecutors, Public Servants and Certain Persons holding Managerial Positions suffered considerable
amendments there still remained some issues that need to be considered:(a) the problem of confiscation of the revenues and property that do not correspond to the income of the
public servant and his/her family members;(b) the burden of prove with regard to the source of income was not reversed to the defendant, meaningthat responsible institutions will be put in a really strange situation, because they will not be able toconfiscate any property or assets till it is demonstrated that the person committed a crime;(c) there is no obligation of the public servants or high officials to declare personal interests of theirfamily members.

(ii) Code of Conduct of Public Servants
Despite of the fact that there is a Code of conduct of public servants, still it is not clear who is responsible
for monitoring the application of the law and who examines its violations.
(iii) Criminal Code and Contravention CodeThe major problem in regard to the provisions of Criminal Code and Contravention Code is the fact thatthese acts incriminate few similar violations. In Contravention Code the difference between contravention
and the offence with the same tile is made basically only by the remark “if there are no elements of thecrime”. Such delimitation between crimes and contraventions create several problems in the process ofinvestigation and qualification of the corruption acts. Also, this legislative approach does not respect the
principle of predictability.
In regard to, Criminal Code provisions, it should be mentioned as well that there is a need to revise
the punishment in the form of deprivation of the right to occupy certain positions in the case of corruption
crimes in order to make sure that such a deprivation is applied for a period more than 5 years. Also there isa need to examine the opportunity to maintain the classification of corruption acts in the Law on Prevention

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and Fight corruption, because the same acts are repeated by Criminal Code as well.
Solutions:•

Confiscation problem of the revenues and property that do not correspond to the income of the
public servant and his/her family members can be solved by the amendment of art. 46 paragraph(2) of the Constitution of Republic of Moldova which provides the “presumption of legality of theobtained property”. Afterwards it is necessary to make amendment in the Law on National Integrity
Commission in order to provide that the defended will be obliged to present proofs that he/she
obtained legally the revenues and the property and to prepare the procedure for the confiscation of therevenues and property which cannot be confirmed by the defendant. Romania could be an example for
that;

•

The amendment of the Law on conflict of interests in order to establish the obligation to declare also
the personal interests of the family members.

•

The establishment of the institution responsible for monitoring the application of the Code of Conductof Public Servants;•

Amendment of the Criminal Code and Contravention Code;•

Implementation of the National Anticorruption Strategy for 2011-2015, which provides the necessity
to undertake several legislative measures and the drafting of specific amendments (for instance theamendment of legislation dealing with political parties financing).

III. INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE PREVENTION
AND FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION
A. Current Situation
In 2002 on the basis of the Decision of the Government of Republic of Moldova no. 158 the Centre for
Combating Economic Crimes and Corruption was created, as a main body responsible for the prevention andfight against Corruption. On 6 June 2002 the Law no. 1104-XV on the Centre for Combating Economic Crimes
and Corruption was adopted and it entered into force on 27 June 2002. In accordance with article 1 of theabove mentioned law the Centre for Combating Economic Crimes and Corruption represents a “body meant
for the protection of legal norms, specialized in fighting against economic-financial and fiscal offences, as wellas corruption”. Later on, namely beginning with 1 October 2012 it became the National Anticorruption Center.
Before the change the Centre had the task to prevent, investigate, prosecute and stop the commission of
economic, financial and fiscal offences, fight against corruption and protectionism, prevention and fight againstmoney laundering and finance of terrorism and the performance of anticorruption expertise of legislativeacts. So, the Center had a very wide range of tasks, fact that created premises for the incapacity to realize
the main task of combating corruption. After 1 October 2012, the National Anticorruption Center’s functions
were limited. Now the Center is considered to be an institution specialized in the prevention and fight against
corruption, acts connected to corruption offences and other corruptible acts.
Moreover, the competence of the Centre to investigate corruption crimes is set out by article 296 of the
Criminal Procedure Code of Republic of Moldova. According to the above mentioned provisions the Centeris responsible for the conduction of criminal investigation of the following crimes: money laundering, passive
corruption, active corruption, trading of influence, abuse of power or abuse of official position, excess of
power or excess of official authority, negligent performance of duties, violation of the confidentiality regimeof information from the declarations of assets and property, forgery of public documents, taking bribes, giving
bribes, abuse of official positions.
In regard to the above mentioned tasks, the Centre has the right to perform operative action of investigation;
to conduct criminal investigation; to arrest the suspect of the commission of crimes that fall under its
competence, to seek clarification from suspects, to undergo their body search, to establish their identity, to lift
objects and documents; to conduct forensic expertise related to its competence, to require public authorities,
enterprises, organizations and state institutions to delegate specialists and experts for expertise; to establish theviolation of the economic and financial legislation and apply sanctions etc.13
13 Law no. 1104-XV on the Center for Combating Economic Crimes and Corruption, article 7 paragraph (1).

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Also, according to article 401 of Contravention Code the Center is also responsible for examination ofcontraventions such as: protectionism, failure to declare the conflict of interest, excess power in regard
to permissive acts, concealment of an act of corruption or acts related to corruption or failure to take thenecessary measures, failure to apply protection measures for the public servant and receiving an illegal reward
or financial profit.

Starting with 1 October 2012 the National Anticorruption Center also has changed its legal status,
becoming an independent institution. Since the changes there was no sufficient independence of the Centre
from the executive, fact that created the perception that it was an institution that “served the government”
and each criminal case investigated by the institution had a political ground.
Beside the Centre for Combating Economic Crimes and Corruption in accordance to article 25 of the Law
no. 293-XVI from December 2008 on Prosecution Office, there is also Anticorruption Prosecution Office
which is specialized in combating corruption crimes. Anticorruption Prosecution Office is mainly controllingthe investigation activity of the Centre for Combating Economic Crimes and Corruption.
Another institution that will somehow be connected with the process of combating corruption cries is
National Integrity Commission. The commission will verify the declaration of assets and property of public
servants and the declaration of personal interests and in the case it finds that there was committed a crime itwill address to Centre for Combating Economic Crimes and Corruption.
Law on the National Integrity Commission is relatively new law that aims to create a new mechanism
for the verification of the declarations of assets and property of civil servants, of the declarations of personal
interests and the respecting of the regime of incompatibilities.
The trial of offenders who committed corruption crimes is put in the competence of common courts,
which examine the case in accordance to Criminal Procedure Code.

B. Problems and Solutions
1. Center for Combating Economic Crimes and Corruption
Despite of the fact that the national legislation is quite detailed, when it comes to the statute of the Centre
for Combating Economic Crimes and Corruption, still there are some issues which undermine its role in theprevention and combating corruption.
(i) No Clear Separation of Competences between Centre for Combating Crimes and Corruption andOther Institutions that have competences in the field of combating corruption;(ii) Lack of Capacity of the Centre for Combating Economic Crimes and Corruption, such as lack ofskills, competences and training, methodology and leadership capabilities;(iii) Lack of All Necessary Instruments for the Efficient Investigation of the Corruption Crimes, i.e. theexistence of the immunity for several public officials and the absence of adequate confiscation tools.
Solutions:• Need to examine the efficiency of the procedures of increasing the immunity of officials that enjoy
immunities, in case of corruption offences, the eventual amendment should be proposed in thisregard;•Legislative measures should be undertaken to ensure the Centre of Combating Economic Crimes
and Corruption with the means of confiscation in the cases of corruption offences;•

Undertake measures to ensure the expertise, skills and integrity of the personnel of the Center;•

Strengthening of the coordination and information exchange among the anti-corruption authorities.

2. National Integrity Commission
The major problem with this institution is the fact that it hasn’t started its activity yet, namely the staff
should be selected, necessary financial resources should be given and several acts should be approved by
the Commission (ex. Recommendations on how assets and property declarations and interest declarations
should be fulfilled) etc.

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Solution:• Offering governmental support to the National Integrity Commission to start its activity by providing
the financial and administrative resources.

V. CONCLUSION
During the last 12 years since Moldova gained its independence, important steps were taken to ensurethat the country has an adequate legal and institutional system that is compatible with all international
instruments ratified by Moldova and also that is capable to ensure an efficient fight against corruption.
Even if it started this process full of promises and with hopes that in a few years the legislation would be
perfect and the institutions involved in the process of investigating corruption crimes would work properly,
the reality showed that there is long way to go and certain improvements are needed.
Even if it faced several problems, the Republic of Moldova tried each time to find new solutions andimplement new mechanisms to prevent and combat corruption. As an example we can cite the new policy
documents adopted by the Parliament, which establish the path for the next 5 years. These documents are
the National Anticorruption Strategy for 2011-2015 and The Strategy on the reform of the justice sector for
2011-2016, which has a separate pillar on fighting corruption in the justice system.

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