Draft Legislative and Normative acts to be provided with corruptibility expertise

The Center for Combating Economic Crime and Corruption (CCECC) will provide with a corruptibility expertise the draft legislative and normative acts. A draft law in this respect passed the Parliament’s first reading, at the first autumn-winter session. It was intensely debated and was criticized by the Opposition. According to the draft law, the expertise of corruptibility will be compulsorily performed in order to verify if bills comply with national and international anticorruption standards, as well as for preventing regulations which can favor corruption. According to this mechanism, the draft acts will be verified in two stages: first stage – in the process when it is approved by interested institutions, according to their competences, and using a methodology elaborated and approved by CCECC and the second stage – when it is approved by the experts of CCECC. According to the deputy minister of Justice, Nicolae Esanu, this draft aims at creating a legal framework for performing corruptibility expertise of the draft legislative acts and preventing appearance of new regulations which might favor corruption. The draft was criticized by a series of opposition MPs, who declared that the idea is good, but the concept of the draft law is poorly prepared and it will not solve the situation in this respect. According to the MP Igor Klipii, the draft is a “propagandistic slapstick”. He was unpleased with the fact that the expertise will be made by CCECC, which has the image of a “political club”. Dumitru Diacov declared that as a result of adopting this project, CCECC participates in the legislative process, which is a violation of the legislation. Alexandru Lipcan considers that the project was prepared in a hurry. This fact generates side-effects, and according to Gheorghe Susarenco, the draft usurps state power. At the same time, according to MP Dumitru Braghis, the laws in Moldova are not corrupt, but their implementation way leads to the creation of this phenomenon. The speakers solicited rejection of the draft and its reexamination by the Government. Communist MPs pleaded in favor of draft’s approval. They declared that MPs can make amendment proposals in the second reading. The document was voted in first reading by 52 MPs.