Draft law on exchange of state-owned plot for company-owned plot is corruptible, CAPC says

The Center for Analysis and Prevention of Corruption (CAPC) examined the draft law that provides for exchanging a state-owned plot of land for a plot owned by a company and ascertained that this law can be regarded as corruptible, Info-Prim Neo reports. The legislative initiative was worked out by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry. It proposes changing the purpose of a state-owned plot of land, which occupies an area of 15 hectares near Codru town of the Chisinau municipality and is used by the state company “Fruit-growing Institute”, so that it is used to build apartment blocks on. According to the informative note that accompanies the draft law, SC Divers Euro Consult SRL will transfer in exchange a plot that is 20 hectares in area to the state. CAPC says that under the Civil Code, the parties to the exchange contract must transfer to each other the right of ownership over a given property. Each party is considered seller of the property it owns and buyer of the property it receives in exchange. So, there should be indicated the legal address of the exchanged property, the cadaster name, the economic value, etc. Also, the company must indicate which land it transfers to the Government, where it is located, what area it occupies and what economic value it has. Such details are necessary because if the exchanged properties do not have the same value, the difference in value could be covered. According to CAPC, the draft law does not stipulate the procedure and possibility of a later exchange and does not say who will do the exchange on behalf of the state and who will cover the expenses of registering the right of ownership. It does not also regulate the procedure for using the land that is to be taken out of the agricultural circuit. The financial and economic substantiation is not performed though the implementation of the given law implies financial costs or, possibly, obtaining of economic profits. Certain stipulations of the draft law run counter to the stipulations of other normative documents such as the Land Code and the Civil Code. CAPC says that the necessity of adopting a special law regarding the derogation from the general principles fixed in the Land Code is not clear given that the agricultural lands are withdrawn only in exceptional cases and only by the Government. Moreover, the law’s objective runs counter to paragraph 2 of article 83 of the Land Code, which allows exceptions from the general rule only when “the plots are earmarked for building roads, telecommunication and electric power lines, pipes, oil and gas exploitation facilities and production buildings on.” After analyzing the draft law and informative note, CAPC established that they promote the interests of certain legal entities. “We consider that the Law No. 668-XIII for approving the list of units whose lands remain under the state's state property is amended only with the aim of satisfying the material interests of a single company - SC Divers Euro Consult SRL – to the detriment of the global and primordial interests of society and the state. The law will prejudice the state as it will be deprived of a property with an economic value that could bring benefits if it is rationally used,” the CAPC examination report says.