Representatives of civil society, the National Anticorruption Center (NAC) and the National Integrity Commission (NIC), in a news conference at IPN explained a number of amendments proposed to the national legislation on the integrity of public functionaries and corruption fighting. The bill was drafted by the NAC and appraised by the Center for the Analysis and Prevention of Corruption.

NAC representative Maria Popescu said the amendments specify who must perform the professional integrity testing and what penalties can be imposed if a public servant fails the test.

The bill with amendments introduces the notion of ‘public interest’ and explains the reasons for which penalty is imposed, depending on the gravity and size of the damage caused to the public interest. NIC representative Victor Stratila said the size of the damage to the public interest and of the penalty must be specified in this case.

Under the legislation, the non-declaration of the conflict of interest is examined by the National Integrity Commission, which sends the results to the National Anticorruption Center for imposing fines. As the periods during which penalties can be imposed are short (up to three months), while the procedure for transmitting information can be delayed, the NAC suggests that the NIC should be empowered to establish the non-declaration of the conflict of interest and to impose penalties

National Participation Council chairman Sergiu Ostaf referred to the new provisions that oblige the public servant to avoid and to declare favoritism as an act of corruptive behavior and the testing of the professional integrity is one of the guarantees for preventing corruption. From this August, the public servants will be tested in a virtual situation where they will be offered certain advantages to see if the functionary has integrity or not.

Anticorruption Alliance head Olga Batca said the dialogue between the public servants and the NAC has intensified and this shows that the mentality among public servants is changing. The implementation of the bill will have a significant impact on the prevention and combating of corruption, while the imposition of disciplinary penalties on public servants who do not meet the integrity conditions will contribute to implementing the ‘zero tolerance of corruptions’ principle.