
In Moldova has been established an Independent Anti-Corruption Advisory Committee to investigate cases of major corruption.
This was stated at a briefing on Monday by Moldovan President Maia Sandu, noting that she had signed a decree on the creation of a committee, which included lawyers, economists, economic investigation journalists, as well as several international experts specializing in the investigation of corruption cases. It is planned that the members of the committee will investigate cases of major corruption in Moldova, publicly report on them, analyze obstacles to an effective fight against corruption and make recommendations for improving the legislative and institutional framework. “We hope that this information will be useful not only for citizens, but also for law enforcement agencies, whose task is to investigate cases of major corruption,” said Maia Sandu. According to her, unfortunately, state institutions that must fight corruption are working too slowly, acting much slower than corruption groups that rob the country and have partners abroad. “But since Moldova's development partners understand the seriousness of the problem of corruption in our country and the complexity of the fight against this phenomenon, they are ready to provide assistance in this direction, including through financial support of the created Independent Advisory Committee on the Fight against Corruption, which will be financed by funds of the European Union and the United States. It is planned to involve other donors with whom negotiations are under way to finance its activities, ”the President of the country noted. Maia Sandu said that the committee included 6 people: 3 members from Moldova - Alina Radu, Tamara Razin and Nadejda Hriptievschi and 3 international experts: James Wasserstrom (USA), Laura Stefan (Romania) and Drago Kos (Slovenia). At the same time, the UN expert on combating corruption, James Wasserstrom, became the chairman of the committee, and Alina Radu, a well-known journalist from Moldova, director of Ziarul de Garda, became the co-chair. The experts were selected as a result of consultations between the administration of the President of Moldova and international organizations specializing in the fight against corruption. The creation of the committee itself was the result of the president's appeal to development partners with a request to help our country in the fight against corruption. As Maia Sandu noted, the created Independent Advisory Committee on the Fight against Corruption will decide for itself which topics to investigate, which reports to prepare, it will be completely free to investigate and will be able to investigate any topic, any manifestation and suspicion of corruption, at any level, regardless of who is involved and what persons are involved in corruption schemes. The Committee will analyze in which segments there are problems with corruption, why the institutions of the Moldovan state, which fight against corruption, do not effectively fulfill their duty, and will prepare reports that will be published and will contain specific recommendations aimed at solving the identified problems. Moldova is the third country to establish such an Independent Advisory Committee on Combating Corruption, after Afghanistan and Ukraine. // 07.06.2021 — InfoMarket