The process of recovering criminal assets means much more than the recovery process itself. It is a much broader process. The media, civil society and the lawmakers expect the Criminal Assets Recovery Agency (CARA) will ensure the recovery takes place immediately. These expectations are yet unrealistic, said authors of a report on the needs of the CARA that was presented in a public debate in Chisinau, IPN reports.
“The CARA’s biggest problem derives from the fact that society and the politicians do not realize the role played by this institution. The CARA is an institution that helps the prosecution body to collect data. This was practically impossible earlier, before the creation of the Agency. If the CARA had been created before the bank fraud of 2012-2013, the Agency would have faced other challenges,” said lawyer Cristina Ciubotaru, anticorruption expert. She noted the Agency cannot function so as to immediately recover criminal assets and these expectations are unrealistic.
Veronica Mihailov, secretary of state of the Ministry of Justice, said that given the commitment to reform the justice sector undertaken by the government, the Ministry plays an important role in recovering criminal assets. “The main duty is to work out the normative framework so that the CARA does its job. Improvements have been made meanwhile. We discussed how we can adopt a broader approach to improve the normative framework and this report comes to help us in this regard. The Ministry also ensures international cooperation and we can say that a lot of discussions were held with foreign counterparts to improve the cooperation mechanisms as these are intricate processes,” stated Veronica Mihailov.
International consultant Radu Nicolae in the event said the Republic of Moldova ratified a number of international agreements on criminal matters. The strengthening of the necessary bodies at the Ministry of Justice and the Prosecutor General’s Office and of commissions rogatory is the biggest challenge. “There are people working on this process behind the results and the decision makers should ensure their independence as they sometimes risk their lives to make the law. The Republic of Moldova joined the international standards and the implementation of these remains a problem. It is also important to respect the rights and to ensure a fair trial and Moldova has the necessary mechanisms in this regard,” he stated.
CARA head Sergei Carapunarly said the Agency’s priorities include the recovery of stolen assets and also the prevention of financial frauds. “We have worked for five years and the initial strategy was implemented meanwhile, with the asset recovery capacities being strengthened,” he noted.
Adrian Munteanu, vice director of the Service for the Prevention and Combatting of Money Laundering, said the institution has efficient cooperation with the CARA, but the legislation needs yet to be improved so as to optimize the processes of recovering the money. “We are ready to formulate a detailed view on all the processes and to review the legal framework so as to create a healthy and efficient system,” he stated.
The report on the CARA’s needs was compiled by Pedro Gomes Pereira and Cristina Ciubotaru. It contains recommendations for improving the process of recovering criminal assets, such as reviewing and updating the legislation in the field, producing the Register of Recovered Criminal Assets and creating a criminal asset recovery program.
