Parliament adopted the bill on the redirection of the National Bank of Moldova’s profit by 52 votes in favor after giving it two readings. The opposition MPs said the bill does not envision the return of the money stolen from the banking system, as the politicians told the people, and is technical in character. More exactly, a sum of money is transferred from one pocket to another. Amendments are needed to exclude eventual risks and the money that will be transferred from the National Bank of Moldova to the state budget should be used to increase the lowest pensions, IPN reports.

Minister of Finance Sergei Pușcuța said in Parliament that if the statutory capital represents less that 4% of all the monetary obligations of the NBM, the profit available for distribution will be allocated fully for increasing the statutory capital. If the statutory capital represents 4% to 10% of all the monetary obligations of the National Bank, 50% of the profit available for distribution will go to increase the statutory capital and 50% will be transferred to the state budget revenues. If the statutory capital represents 10%, the available profit will be distributed fully to the state budget. This way, the financial pressure on the state budget in the medium and long term will be reduced following the servicing of the state bonds issued in 2016.

In his speech, PPPDA MP Alexandru Slusari said this is a political bill that does not come with long-term solutions and does not suggest a method for spearing the people of the payments for the money stolen from them.

PAS MP Dumitru Alaiba noted that this is a cosmetic project. “It is neither good nor bad. The bill does not bring the stolen US$ 1 billion back, as you promised in the campaign. The money will remain unrecovered, will continue to be in offshore areas and those who facilitated the theft or who obstructed the investigation for years will remain unpunished,” stated the MP.

Socialist MP Vlad Batrîncea said not the recovery of the stolen bank funds is discussed today. The National Bank’s money has nothing to do with the national public budget. This money is not intended for health programs, investments and other purposes. It will go to deal with a very grave situation when the people have to repay stolen finds.