The Prosecutor General's Office announced Moldovan President’s "misinformation and manipulation" on the issue of the Memorandum with the EU on macro-financial assistance.
In particular, the Prosecutor General's Office made a number of clarifications in the light of statements made by the President of the country Maia Sandu during her meeting in Kyiv with the Executive Vice President of the European Commission Valdis Dombrovskis, according to which: “the only condition where Moldova does not register enough progress to receive 50 million euros in macro-financial assistance is the strategy for recovering the money stolen following the bank fraud, which was supposed to be elaborated by the Prosecutor's Office ... " This position of the head of state was confirmed in a recent interview for Radio Free Europe. In a statement to the press, the Prosecutor General's Office made a number of clarifications, stressing that the duty of the prosecutor to report on the refund process is not included in any regulatory act, and this is not provided for by any mechanism for conditionality for the allocation of the EU macro-financial assistance. As noted, only in the annex to the Memorandum on Macro-Financial Assistance there is an instruction on the implementation by the authorities of a strategy for the recovery of assets stolen as a result of the fraud, without specifying the Prosecutor's Office as the responsible institution. The report of the Prosecutor General's Office indicates that so far not a single representative of the highest legislative body has applied to the Prosecutor's Office with any proposals or plans for joint actions to implement this document in terms of the Prosecutor's Office powers, and there is no constructive and legal cooperation in this direction. As noted, the issue of actions that the Moldovan authorities should take in the context of the implementation of the provisions of the Memorandum was raised in relations with the Prosecutor's Office only by the interim Prime Minister Aureliu Ciocoi, who, in his appeal dated May 7, 2021, recommended the Prosecutor's Office, along with the competent authorities, to update the Strategy on the return of the funds stolen from the banking system to accelerate criminal investigations by diversifying international cooperation and public disclosure of information every six months. It is emphasized that in this regard, the Prosecutor's Office has elaborated and, alongside the National Anti-Corruption Center, the State Tax Service, the Service for the Prevention and Combating of Money Laundering, on May 18, 2021, signed an order approving the Mechanism for the return of funds stolen from the banking system. This interdepartmental normative act specifically establishes actions and sub-actions to be taken, executors, timelines and indicators of progress, about which the Prime Minister was informed in a message dated May 21, 2021. The statement of the Prosecutor General's Office notes that up to now, assets worth 3.1 billion lei have been arrested in the case of the bank fraud. It is emphasized that the final recovery of assets seized through special or extended confiscation does not fall within the competence of the Prosecutor's Office, but within the competence of the courts, which will consider cases on the merits. The Prosecutor's Office pointed out that focusing the state's attention only on criminal mechanisms in the process of returning the stolen money is an incorrect approach, since due to judicial procedures this mechanism is complex and long. The Prosecutor's Office announced that it is taking responsibility for expediting the trial on this matter within the limits provided by law. At the same time, the Prosecutor's Office calls on the competent state authorities to take into account non-criminal mechanisms for the return of funds, which can be more efficient and quicker, with direct, indirect or subsidiary participation of banks under the obligations stipulated in accordance with the law, in the process of plundering the banking system. The Prosecutor's Office believes that competent institutions: the government, the National Bank, the Public Property Agency and others should take an active position in this direction. “We believe that the development and implementation of the Strategy for the return of the money stolen as a result of the fraud should not be solely entrusted to the Prosecutor's Office and other law enforcement agencies. This document should provide for comprehensive approaches and contain two components: criminal and non-criminal, which should be developed at least at the government level with the participation of all competent authorities,” the Prosecutor General's Office said. It was clarified that the Prosecutor's Office realizes the importance of the EU's assistance to our state and, alongside all interested bodies, undertakes to prioritize and expedite as much as possible activities to investigate the banking fraud and, accordingly, to return the funds stolen from banks, informing parliament or, if necessary, the government, prior to a specified date through informative progress reports. At the same time, the Prosecutor's Office said that the statements of Moldova’s top leadership on the Memorandum of Understanding with the EU are irresponsible and manipulative, aimed at misinforming the public and transferring responsibility to the Prosecutor's Office for the inability or unwillingness to fulfill the conditions taken by the government and parliament to development partners. // 01.09.2021 – InfoMarket
