The Truth and Dignity Platform Party (PPPDA) claims that “after failing to pass the controversial bill regarding the legalization of dirty and stolen money, the Plahotniuc regime, in obvious partnership with President Dodon, won’t give up trying to transform Moldova into a black zone of Europe, dedicated to laundering criminal money from all over the world”. According to PPPDA, this is the true goal of the latest amendments to the Citizenship Law, which will offer Moldovan citizenship to so-called investors who contribute to the Public Investment Fund for Sustainable Development or invest in any of the country’s other strategic development fields, IPN reports.
PPPDA issued a press statement arguing that no foreign investor with honest intentions and legal money would be interested in obtaining the “citizenship of a captured country, characterized by raider attacks, the laundering of tens of billions of dollars via the judiciary and a banking system that is not attractive for launching clean businesses”.
According to PPPDA, the money brought in in return for citizenship will be alloted to the Public Investment Fund, which will certainly be administered by the Plahotniuc group, and used either in the real estate field or for purchasing securities issued by the Ministry of Finance in order to cover the budget deficit.
Considering all of the above, the Truth and Dignity Platform denounces the initiative that “plans Moldova’s definitive fall into the hands of the Mafia and the creation in Europe of a zone for laundering huge amounts of dirty money and for abetting international criminals”, reads the statement.
PPPDA promises that when it comes to power “all the aforementioned changes will be annulled and the people involved in creating and promoting criminal schemes will be severely punished and their illegal assets seized”.
Previously, civil society representatives also criticized the new amendments to the Citizenship Law, saying that these will increase the risk of legalizing dirty money. Moreover, this bill was signed by the same authors and registered at the same time as the bill on capital liberalization and fiscal stimulation, which was rejected by the Parliament after strong criticism from civil society and the country’s development partners.
