The inspection and investigation bodies show a rather formal preoccupation with the facts investigated by journalists. During the last few years, well-documented journalistic investigations with clear evidence that public functionaries violated the legislation appeared in Moldova. But the number of cases over which the competent institutions initiated examinations or probes that ended with penalties remains very low, says the second study of the authorities’ reaction to journalistic investigations that was presented by the Association of Independent Press on March 12, IPN reports.
As by the previous study published at the start of 2018, the authors aimed to quantitatively and qualitatively document the way in which the authorities reacted to facts described in investigations, carrying out a synthetized analysis of cases discovered by the press. This time, the number of investigations to which no reaction followed is higher than in the previous study. In most of the cases, the National Integrity Authority was the one that should have reacted as the journalists mostly discovered conflicts of interests and cases of undeclared property whose value is higher than the legal revenues.
There were analyzed 26 journalistic investigations published in July 2017- July 2019. These featured ministers, deputy ministers, heads of departments, divisions, sections, institutions and agencies, MPs, judges, prosecutors, district heads and mayors. The investigations centered on property or businesses that weren’t declared or didn’t match the legal revenues, conflicts of interests, suspicions of protectionism or abuse of power.
The state institutions didn’t react to 11 of the 26 investigations covered by the study. Of the 15 initiated inspections or investigations, seven ended without penalty decisions as there were ascertained no violations of the law, but the facts described by the journalists were confirmed. Another seven inspections are ongoing and only in one case the National Integrity Authority adopted a decision by which the person was classed as responsible for violating the legal regime of conflicts of interests.
The study authors note that a part of the public institutions continue to ignore the integrity problems signaled by the press when appointing or promoting persons to posts. Even if most of the institutions have internal codes of conduct and documents that contain provisions about the integrity, some of the institutions insist that the examination of the integrity of functionaries is the exclusive prerogative of the National Integrity Authority.
According to them, as nine persons featured in the investigations kept the held posts, ten resigned for other reasons than those invoked in investigations and two persons were promoted, it is ascertained that the institutions are not really committed to discourage the employment of persons suspected of not being upright.
