Some of the integrity inspectors of the National Integrity Authority (NIA) are of good faith, while others are as they are, said the head of the Parliament’s legal commission for appointments an immunities, referring to the NIA’s ascertaining documents saying that no irregularities were identified when examining the property of current and former functionaries. Olesea Stamate noted the NIA’s decisions were taken based on the former law according to which the subjects of declaration were to indicate the contract value of the goods. Under the new law, the market value of the goods needs to be indicated, IPN reports.
Recently, the National Integrity Authority stopped the procedure for inspecting the property and interests of MP Bogdat Țîrdea, ex-minister of defense Alexandru Pânzari and ex-president of the Chisinau Appeals Court Vladislav Clima. It established that there are no differences between the costs and incomes declared by the three.
“I don’t know what is happening inside the NIA, what the inspectors do and how correct their work is. They are independent in their property examination activities. This instituting hasn’t been really cleaned. The inspectors who worked at the NIA until now continue working there. Maybe two or three left. Of those who remained, some are of good faith, while others are as they are. We should not have very big expectations of this institution immediately. The question is why these cases have been gathering dust at the NIA for so long and no solution was provided. The interest of the previous administration of the NIA was to keep these cases unsolved. What I can say preliminarily, judging by the ascertaining documents, is that these decisions were taken based on the old law under which the person could declare the contract, cadastral value of the goods and if one had a sale and purchase agreement for a car to the value of 10,000 lei, this value was the one that was declared. Now the law provides that the market value of the gods is declared,” Olesea Stamate stated in the talk show “Shadow Cabinet” on JurnalTV channel.
For his part, former secretary of state at the Ministry of Justice Nicolae Eșanu said the NIA should determine the income-cost ratio in the case of functionaries based on the own assessments, not on the figures indicated in the property statement.
“I said this to the former governments too. What a person declares is not important. What is important is to assess correctly the owned property, including the property that is registered in someone else’s name. There should be a mechanism by which to identify the owned property, registered in the own name or in the name of the neighbor. There should be instruments by which to prove that the property belongs to a person. The fact that a person declares the market value should be secondary. If the state goes into details of private contracts, it will lose. The NIA should not depend on what the people think. The NIA should decide based on the own assessments,” stated jurist Nicolae Eșanu.
The National Integrity Authority remained without a manager in April 2022 after Rodica Antoci tendered her resignation. The post is now held on an interim basis by NIA deputy manager Lilian Chișcă. In accordance with the law, the Integrity Council is to launch a contest to choose the next NIA head.
