The parliament recognized as unsatisfactory the activities of the leadership of the Prosecutor General's Office and the NAC on the return of money stolen from the banking system of the country.
The corresponding decision was made by the deputies at a meeting on Friday after several hours of debate, following the results of parliamentary hearings on the process of returning money stolen from the banking system. The adopted resolution states that the parliament takes note of the information provided in writing by the Prosecutor General's Office on the progress of actions to return funds stolen from the banking system. The parliament stated that the responsibility for organizing and ensuring effective measures to return funds stolen from the banking system lies with the leadership of the Prosecutor General's Office and the National Anti-Corruption Center. After analyzing the information provided, the parliament noted the lack of tangible progress in the process of returning money stolen from the banking system, and believes that the ineffective actions of the heads of the responsible authorities unreasonably delay the adoption of effective measures to achieve the goal. In the context of the aforementioned, the parliament recognized as unsatisfactory the activities of the leadership of the Prosecutor General's Office and the NAC on the return of the mentioned money. In this regard, the Parliament asks the Prosecutor General's Office to study the reasons for stagnation committed by the responsible authorities in the procedures for investigating the robbery of the banking system, as well as to take measures and intensify international cooperation with the special services of the countries, including through joint investigation teams and the European Union Agency for Cooperation in Criminal Justice ( EuroJust), with the aim of investigating banking fraud and the global recovery of stolen funds and assets. In addition, the deputies ask the Prosecutor General's Office to develop and approve within 30 days an effective, efficient and applicable instrument for the recovery of funds stolen from the banking system, as well as a new action plan for its implementation, as well as publish every six months reporting on the progress and results obtained in the process of returning the funds stolen from the banking system. At the same time, the Parliament recommended that the High Council of Magistrates, in accordance with the law, review the activities and take all necessary measures so that the courts, when administering justice in cases involving embezzlement in the banking system and the return of money stolen from the banking system, comply with the principles relating to the speed of the process, the transparency of the administration of justice and openness to society, the effectiveness of the activities of courts and judges, as well as the observance of the Code of Ethics by judges. It was decided that the Legal Commission of the Parliament on Appointment and Immunity, together with the Commission on National Security, Defense and Public Order, will monitor, within the framework of parliamentary control, the evolution of the investigation into the robbery of the banking system and the course of actions taken by state bodies, reporting the relevant information to the plenary session of parliament every six months. It should be noted that within the framework of parliamentary hearings, the deputies lamented that for 7 years of the investigation of the "theft of a billion" case, no progress was made in it, and not a single lei returned to the treasury, and the money to the budget came mainly from the sale of assets of liquidated banks collecting debts from their clients. The parliamentarians noted that the lack of progress in the investigation leads to the fact that the country's citizens continue to pay directly and indirectly for the "theft of a billion" from the country's budget. In particular, as noted by the Minister of Justice Sergiu Litvinenco, within the framework of the implementation of the Law on the issue of government bonds in fulfillment by the Ministry of Finance of payment obligations arising from state guarantees of November 17, 2014 and April 1, 2015, this year alone, it will be necessary to pay 860 million lei from the budget, and in general, since 2017, this amount has exceeded 4 billion lei. “If we leave everything as it is, then in 20 years more than 20 billion lei will be paid. This money is directly taken from the pocket of citizens, from the budget. But besides the fact that we pay tens of billions of lei directly, we are still deprived of the opportunity to receive large sums of macro-financial assistance from the EU, which, among other things, determines financing by progress in the investigation of the theft of a billion, ”Litvinenco said. In his opinion, Prosecutor General Alexandru Stoianoglo, who did not attend the parliamentary hearings, had a chance to restore citizens' confidence if he came and honestly spoke about the results of the investigation, about possible obstacles and problems. “That is why we urgently need a reform of the prosecutor’s office so that we do not discuss the lack of progress for another 5 years, so that those suspected of fraud and large-scale corruption do not calmly leave the country,” Sergiu Litvinenco said.// 20.08.2021 — InfoMarket
