Anti-corruption legal framework is imperfect: Transparency International- Moldova

The legal anti-corruption framework is imperfect, the experts of Transparency International (TI) – Moldova state. Lilia Carasciuc, the executive director of the organization, considers that the laws adopted for the last two years are a step forward in preventing and fighting corruption. However, some of them neglect the international standards and the mechanism of implementation is not paid enough attention, Info-Prim Neo reports. Especially, the Law regarding the conflict of interests gives an erroneous interpretation of the notions “conflict of interests” and “personal interest.” Thus, concluding from the definition, not the personal interest can affect fulfilling the work attributions, but vice versa: fulfilling the duty can influence the personal interests. The law also exposes narrowly the terms of close relatives, not showing nephews, godfathers and others as close persons. The Law regarding the code of conduct of the civil servant does not provide for the compulsoriness of denouncing the deviations from the code and the sanctions for not having denounced them. The law does not oblige the chiefs to apply concrete measures for implementing the code. The clause regarding the presents creates premises for spreading the small corruption – it allows the civil servants to accept presents/favors, of an exaggerated value (up to a minimum salary) and it does not establish how often they can be accepted. The law on preventing and fighting corruption, unlike the international conventions, narrows the list of the categories of people liable to this law. It exposes confusingly the so-called “facts of corruptive behavior,” it exposes erroneously the norms on preventing the legalization of incomes obtained illegally, etc. The Law regarding the political parties establishes an exaggerated limit of donations from a single person, creating conditions for forming a Parliament which represents prevalently the interests of the rich. It does not ensure the compulsoriness of publishing data about big donors, and this creates reasons for spreading the political corruption. According to TI – Moldova, these moments halt efficient preventing and combating corruption in Moldova and conduct to the need of continuous improvement of the legal anti-corruption framework in 2009.