Officials receive a 20% bonus for keeping “state secrets”

A public person working in a public institution financed from tax payers’ funds receive a 20% bonus for keeping confidentiality. According to a recent decision of the Parliament on amending the Decision from March 29, 2001, published in the last number of “The Official Monitor of Moldova”, a chairman of a parliamentary committee, who has a monthly salary of MDL 7700, supplementary receives MDL 1540 for keeping “state secrets”. A referent from different services of the Parliament receives extra MDL 280-420 to his salary of MDL 1400-2100 for confidentiality. The wage amounting to 1800-2550 received by the heads of Public Law Sections or by the Press and Image Service has an extra bonus of MDL 360 and 510. More, they benefit from monthly indemnities of 30% of the wage for the compensation of the expenses for carrying out work tasks. At the moment, according to the new Decision, the monthly wage fund for Parliament’s personnel, composed of department heads, consultants, referents, specialists, varies between MDL 327 343 and 455 268 per month, which is between MDL 3 928 mln and 5 463 mln per year. At the same time, the leadership of the Parliament, chairmen, deputy chairmen, secretaries and members of parliamentary committees, in other words all 101 MPs, receive monthly MDL 792 300, and annually MDL 9 507 mln. In this way, the volume of MPs’ (including tariff salary) oscillates between 13,436 and 14.97 mln per year. At the same time, besides salaries, the personnel of the Parliament and persons who hold public functions of 1st degree benefit from annual compensations to the total sum of one average monthly wage for treatment in health resorts, from indemnities amounting to 6 average monthly wages when the individual work contract expires, monthly compensations of 30% of the salary for carrying out the work tasks, bonuses of 20% of the salary for confidentiality and other 20% for the heads of the subdivisions. Solicited by Info-Prim Neo, the economic analyst Veaceslav Ionita declared that the real salary of the MPs and of the personnel is hidden behind many bonuses and it is 2 or 3-fold higher than the one announced. At the same time, the facilities obtained by them are twice as higher as it was announced so that the salary of a committee chairman amounts at least to MDL 14-15 thousand and the facilities to 28 thousand a month. The incomes of MPs are composed not only from salaries but also from offered facilities, travels, different programs, apartments, cars and mobile telephony etc. In this way the salary bonuses generate their increase by 2-3- fold higher than announced, Veaceslav Ionita says. Though only a half or one third of one’s MP is announced in the Decision, the economic analyst welcomes its publishing, considering that the society was admitted to some hidden information. The Decision was published on July 28, 3 days before the Parliament went on vacation and will have a retroactive effect, coming into force on December 1, 2005.