The bank fraud and its investigation remains a hot subject inside the country and in the dialogue with the foreign partners. The expectations in Moldovan society and outside it are related to the work done by Kroll and its partners. The report was somehow left aside and the state institutions didn’t take measures based on the Kroll findings. The opinions were stated in a press club meeting staged by the Journalistic Investigations Center, IPN reports.
Transparency International Moldova expert Veaceslav Negruta, ex-minister of finance, said the National Bank of Moldova, which signed the contract with Kroll, was to notify the competent investigation authorities based on the findings, not politicians. If such information reaches politicians, there is a risk that temptations to reduce the importance of this work and to reduce the work of state institutions to zero will appear. It happened so in this case. In 2016, after the repayment of the stolen money was made the taxpayers’ burden, the competent institutions started to treat this subject in a more relaxed way.
According to the expert, a number of legislative initiatives were later proposed in a move to legalize the illegalities, including the law on capital liberalization and fiscal stimulation that was dropped under the pressure of civil society. But there was adopted the generically called Nationality Law that enables foreigners to obtain Moldovan nationality in exchange for investments. This is actually an attempt to bring back the stolen money into the country “through couriers”.
Expert Sergiu Tofilat, the representative of WatchDog.MD community, said the shareholders of the three robbed banks and decision makers should have been questioned to see who convinced shareholders to grant loans and if the actions were concerted. Kroll and its partners cannot recover the money independently. Court judgments in Moldova should exist in this regard.
Attending the event, head of the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Officer Viorel Morari said the bank fraud consisted in the offering of nonperforming loans to companies managed by persons who had ties between them or to businesses created overnight. The first criminal case started in the case of the bank fraud was that of ex-Premier Vlad Filat, where a definitive judgment was passed. Sentences were also pronounced in the cases of “Caravita”, which was administered by Ion Rusu, and of businessman Veaceslav Platon. The judgment in the case of Orhei mayor Ilan Shor was appealed and there is no final decision yet. The case of ex-MP Kiril Luchinski is being examined, as is the case of ex-director of Banca de Economii Grigori Gachkevich. There are also a series of cases involving officials of the central bank, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economy and other institutions that are under investigation.
The damage caused to the banking system based only on the cases that were sent to court totals 8 billion lei.
