The Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office (APO) should be strengthened so that it efficiently fights grand corruption. This is the main conclusion of the functional analysis of the APO that was presented by the Institute for European Policies and Reforms (IPRE) in partnership with the APO and Soros Foundation Moldova. The analysis authors said that the organizational and personnel structure of the APO should be optimized depending on its duties and the workload of prosecutors. Also, the number of prosecutes should be raised by 30%, IPN reports.
In the presentation event, analysis author Vitaliy Kasko, IPRE international expert, said the future activities of the APO to investigate acts of corruption of high-ranking officials, including public figures, should be concentrated. It goes to MPs, deputy ministers, senior judges, prosecutors and other public servants.
According to the expert, the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office now does not have legal experts specialized in economic and financial investigations among its staff. Also, the employees do not have full access to all the necessary databases, while the APO is not authorized by law to conduct its own financial investigations.
Consequently, it is recommended to ensure the APO’s free, full and direct access to all the databases possessed by the state, including the unified register of bank accounts, which is relevant for investigating grand corruption. It is also necessary to strengthen the organizational, human, informatics, expertise and financial capacities of the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office.
The analysis says the APO should increase the personnel and such a necessity is evident. The vacant posts should be filled swiftly and the work of the Superior Council of Prosecutors should be organized so as to exclude any delay in this process. Finally, the APO needs an own budget matching its duties, as the law on specialized prosecutor’s offices of 2016 provides.
Attending the event, APO chief Veronica Dragalin said that to fight corruption, the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office needs more resources and instruments. “We all know that we didn’t succeed so far. We, the Prosecutor’s Office, do not win the fight against the corrupt. We must change many things as swiftly as possible as this is a real fight with which we deal daily. We should have implemented the law of 2016 “yesterday”. Why hasn’t this law been implemented during six years? For me, this is a sign that Moldova does not want to fight grand corruption. I hope this will be done today, as our people voted for a change and we have leaders in this country who will make real efforts this time to fight corruption,” stated Veronica Dragalin.
