The adoption of the ‘citizenship for investment’ bill opens up the possibility for people with a shady past to obtain Moldovan citizenship, warn the representatives of the Action and Solidarity Party (PAS). According to them, they bill also allows for money stolen and taken out of the country to be legalized, IPN reports.

Igor Grosu, PAS secretary general, told a press conference that this bill offers Moldovan citizenship to anyone who can donate 100,000 euros to a special fund or who invests at least 250,000 euros in properties and securities. The bill was registered at the Parliament at the end of 2016, together with another ‘beautiful bill’, that of tax amnesty. Both bills have the same inititors, headed by the Speaker, but the tax amnesty was pulled back under pressure from civil society and development partners.

The PAS secretary said that although other states have similar laws, their conditions for obtaining citizenship are stricter. “With some small exceptions, the countries that offer citizenship via investment limit this to direct investment in businesses and private stock, not in government stock like in Moldova”, he explained.

Dan Perciun, head of PAS Youth, rejected the authors’ argument that the bill is meant to stimulate foreign investment in Moldova. He thinks this is only a formal justification, while the real motives are different. According to him, the National Anticorruption Center (CNA) gave the bill a negative notice and identified two major risks. The first is creating a corridor for international terrorism in Moldova. The second is amplifying the money laundering phenomenon in Moldova. “The CNA stated that this bill could have been written only with direct benefits for specific persons in mind”, he added.

PAS will request the Prosecutor General’s Office to verify if there are no criminal elements in the actions of the two bills’ initiators. PAS will also petition the government to suspend the application of this law and to organize additional consultations before approving the regulation regarding the bill’s implementation. PAS members say that if the government wants to prove its good intentions with this bill, it should introduce provisions for verifying the integrity and intentions of the citizenship applications, with the help of international specialized companies like Kroll.