Prime Minister Iurie Leanca said the situation in the baking system of Moldova, especially at Banca de Economii (BEM), will be examined by the national law enforcement bodies and by international companies, at the Government’s request. He assured the people that their bank deposits are safe. The Premier made the statements in connection with the recent taking over of the BEM by the National Bank of Moldova, IPN reports.

“First of all, given that our duty is to protect the deposits of the Moldovan people, I want to make it clear – the salaries, pensions, deposits and all the other benefits are safe. It’s yet clear that our baking system is rather weak and vulnerable and the causes for such vulnerability must be looked for in Moldova, in the decisions taken, some of which probably with delay, by our competent institutions or in the fraudulent or defective management of some banks,” the Premier said in a program on the public TV channel Moldova 1.

Iurie Leanca stated that he convened a number of meetings of the Financial Stability Council this year. In the last one, held in July, the Government gave a number of powers to the National Bank so that it has the instruments needed to intervene promptly and to monitor the developments in the system.

After the BEM was taken over by the central bank, they decided to contract an international company to examine the situation at the bank and to determine if illegalities and abuses were committed or the management was incorrect. Iurie Leanca also said that he asked for support from the American and European partners in this investigation and instructed that the national law enforcement bodies should also investigate the developments in the baking system so as to hold those to blame accountable.

The BEM was returned to the state last Thursday based on a decision of the Supreme Court of Justice under which the rise in the registered capital of the bank of last August was annulled. Now the state owns a holding of 56.13% in the BEM’s registered capital.