The new legislation on the financial-banking sector should be applied fully and in accordance with the spirit of these laws. As the laws were drafted on the insistence of the development partners with the aim of restoring confidence in the national banking system and all the external examination stages were passed, no ad-hoc changes should be made without consulting the development partners first, says a monitoring report on the developments in the financial-banking sector in December 2016 – October 2017 that was compiled by Transparency International Moldova and the Institute for Development and Social Initiative “Viitorul”.
In a news conference at IPN, ex-minister of finance Veaceslav Negruta, one of the report authors, said that new laws were adopted with the assistance of the development partners, including the law on banking resolution and the law on the common central securities depositary. In less than a year of the adoption, the first law was amended twice already, while the second once. This points to a hurry in the adoption process. At the same time, the Executive Committee of the National Bank of Moldova approved and amended a number of regulations.
Several legislative initiatives that are considered by civil society and the development partners as noxious and contrary to the commitments assumed by the authorities because they amplify risks related to the legalization of ill-gotten gains appeared in the period. One of the initiatives, on the legalization of capital and fiscal stimulation, which was passed by Parliament in the first reading in December 2016 without holding public discussions and informing the development partners, is the most pertinent example of this category. Veaceslav Negruta said another bill, to amend the law on nationality, enables third persons, foreigners and stateless persons to obtain Moldovan nationality in exchange for contributions called “investments”, by derogation from the legal norms. Both of the bills were drafted by the same group of MPs headed by the Speaker of Parliament.
The regulations for implementing the law on “nationality for investments” that were drafted by the Ministry of Justice and approved by the Government in September 2017 caused contradictory reactions in society because they offer the possibility of legalizing money of a dubious origin in Moldova. The report authors said a new law on money laundering is to be adopted as it is envisioned in the Moldova - EU Association Agreement.
Transparency International Moldova president Lilia Carasciuc said that on the one hand, there was adopted the legal framework that strengthens the banking system. On the other hand, changes were made to this shortly afterward. In such conditions, the question is whether the legal framework was amended in a hurry or the changes were made to promote group interests.
