The Supreme Security Council (SSC) recommended the Central Election Commission to set up a working group consisting of representatives of a number of institutions, such as the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Security and Intelligence Service, which would identify the risks and would detect and investigate actions to illegally finance the campaigns of electoral contenders, announced President Maia Sandu, who on May 28 chaired the Council’s meeting, IPN reports.

The presidential administration will also constitute a working group that would design proposals for amending the legal framework on the financing of political parties and election campaigns and will ensure enhanced verification of financial transactions. There will also be formulated proposals for amending the penal law and making the punishment for the illegal financing of parties and election campaigns harsher.

According to Maia Sandu, the ways and methods by which illegal financing is made possible in politics are multiple and imply dangers for the state, such as money laundering, smuggling, corruption, fictitious donations, influence peddling and organized crimes, and the information presented at today’s meeting of the SSC proves this.

“Illegal party and campaign funding is a major danger to the national security. It undermines the democratic foundations of society and the legitimacy of the political power. I call on the state institutions responsible for the investigation of this phenomenon to take all the necessary measures to combat this scourge and to ensure the correct and equitable conduct of the political and electoral processes. The law and democratic exercise are key,” stated Maia Sandu, being quoted in a press release of the presidential press service.