Parliament ratifies two international anticorruption conventions

The Parliament of Moldova ratified in its recent sitting the UN Convention against corruption and the Additional Protocol to the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption. The UN Convention against Corruption aims at regulating the fight against this phenomenon and stipulates the obligation of the states to incriminate a large range of facts to cover all the corruption acts: giving and taking bribe, money laundering, obstruction of justice etc. Each party shall work out and implement efficient and coordinated policies on corruption prevention, will create one or several national bodies responsible for the implementation of these measures. At the same time, the parties will create the conditions necessary for the active participation of the representatives of the civil society in the process of preventing corruption, ensuring their access to information and decision-making. The states are obliged to provide mutual legal assistance in what concerns investigations, legal proceedings, to cooperate in order to increases the efficiency of the investigations and to repress corruption-related offences. According to the provisions of the Convention, the developing countries will have the possibility to benefit from technical assistance provided as financial support, experience exchange etc. The UN Convention against Corruption was designed to identify efficient means for a broader implementation of the Action Programme against corruption approved by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in November 1996. The Protocol obliges the parties to undertake at national level such legislative or other measures as to fight against the active and passive corruption of national and international judges and jurymen. The Convention was passed in New York in 2003 and was signed by Moldova on September 28, 2004. The Protocol was adopted on May 15, 2003 by the Committee of Ministers.