The authorities aim to adopt a law that would define the criteria according to which a person can be declared an oligarch. It goes to those who have excessive economic and political influence in the public sphere. The recognition of the person as oligarch will be decided by Parliament by the votes of three fifths of the MPs. As a result, the persons will be put on a dedicated register. This is provided in a bill that was presented by the Ministry of Justice for public consultations, IPN reports.
The Ministry said the bill aims to limit the excessive influence of a distinct group of persons or an individual with excessive economic and political weight in the public sphere – the oligarch. The new law will stipulate the elements defining an oligarch, such as involvement in the political life during the last five years, exercise of excessive influence or pressure on particular state authorities, politically exposed persons, during the last five years, exercise of significant influence on the media, control over a commercial entity that takes a dominant position on the market, conviction for corruption or related offenses, imposition of restrictive international measures on the person through resolutions of the UN Security Council, EU documents and decisions adopted by other international organizations or states or by Moldova.
If a person simultaneously meets one of the mandatory criteria and two of the five complementary criteria, the procedure for recognizing a person as oligarch by Parliament will be initiated.
A Deoligarchization Committee will be created as part of the Government to examine and verify reports about persons who exert significant economic and political influence in the public and economic life of the country. If it determines, based on the accumulated material, that the person meets the criteria defined by law, the Committee will suggest that Parliament should adopt a definitive decision.
When the persons are recognized as oligarchs or affiliated persons, they will be unable to finance political parties or election campaigns, to finance or organize meetings or demonstrations with political demands, to take part in the procurement of denationalized public property and to establish public-private partnerships.
