The employees of the National Bank of Moldova (NBM) will pay back the sums spent by the central bank on lawyers if the court holds by a final decision that these acted with ill-intention when fulfilling their professional duties. The bill providing this was given a first reading by Parliament, IPN reports.

Under the bill, the regulatory framework offers derogatory and preferential treatment for members of the executive bodies of the NBM, the liquidator named by this and its personnel. This runs counter to Article 16 of the Constitution, which says that all the citizens of the Republic of Moldova are equal before the law and the public authorities, regardless of race, nationality, ethnic origin, language, religion, sex, opinion, political affiliation, property or social origin.

The informative note to the bill says that besides the favorable treatment offered for these categories of persons, the normative framework also unconditionally exempts them from paying for criminal and civil proceedings instituted against them, the related costs being covered by the NBM. “Analyzed cumulatively, these provisions create exorbitant differentiated treatment that does not justify its existence and that is not based on objective reasons in relation to the situation of other persons in civil or criminal lawsuits tried for taking a prejudicial action when fulfilling their duties,” says the bill.

The bill also suggests supplementing the Law on the National Bank of Moldova with a provision that would enable the central bank’s employees to pay by themselves the costs for defending their rights within criminal, civil or administrative proceedings, by taking such a decision themselves.