Introduction
On October 1, 2012, the Law on the reform of the Center for Combating Economic Crimes and Corruption (CCECC) came into force, and thus, the former CCECC became the National Anticorruption Center (NAC). The creation of the new anticorruption agency, with exclusive powers to prevent and counteract corruption, was a condition imposed by the European Union for the liberalization of the visa regime.
Center for Combating Economic Crimes and Corruption
The National Anticorruption Center is the legal successor of the CCECC - an institution, created on June 6, 2002, by merging the Economic-Financial Police Directorate and the Anti-Corruption Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Financial Guard and the Financial Control and Review Department of the Ministry of Finance.
The creation of the Center (CCECC) was determined, first of all, by the need to build an efficient state structure, the main purpose of which was to combat economic crimes and corruption in the Republic of Moldova.
Another requirement, no less important, was the need to optimize the structure and activity of the control bodies. In 2002, following evaluations regarding the activity of the law and control institutions, it was found that the functions of different state institutions were duplicated, on the one hand, and inefficient interactions between them, on the other. As a result, there was a considerable number of tendencies and inopportune checks and reviews that did not produce the expected effects in order to eradicate economic crimes and the phenomenon of corruption in society.
At the same time, among the CIS countries, only in the Republic of Moldova the control bodies did not have criminal prosecution functions. With the adoption of the Law on the Center for Combating Economic Crimes and Corruption, an institution with a complex system for detecting economic crimes was created in Moldova, starting with obtaining and documenting the operative information, carrying out the review and control act, the criminal prosecution. and submitting the case to the court.
Also, the formation of CCECC was also determined by the European integration standards that required the existence of specialized anticorruption bodies.
Thus, the Center for Combating Economic Crimes and Corruption was an imperative of the time, the activity of the institution, initially, aiming at preventing, discovering, investigating, eliminating contraventions and economic-financial and fiscal offenses; countering corruption and protectionism; counteracting the legalization of goods and money laundering illegally obtained, carrying out the anticorruption expertise of the draft legislative acts and the draft normative acts of the Government, in order to align them with the state policy of preventing and combating corruption.
Starting with 01.07.2002, after the publication of the Law of the Republic of Moldova on the Center for Combating Economic Crimes and Corruption no.1104-XV from 06.06.2002 in the Official Monitor, the hiring of the personnel from the Department of Financial Control and Review of the Ministry has begun Finance, the Anti-corruption Directorate of the Department for Combating Organized Crime and Corruption, the Economic-Financial Police Directorate of the General Police Inspectorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs; of the Financial Guard of the Main State Fiscal Inspectorate.
On 13.12.2002, the reorganization of the Center took place and a new classification scheme was approved, according to which the subdivisions of the institution were territorially located in the cities of Chisinau, Balti, Edineţ, Soroca, Ungheni, Orhei, Hincesti, Causeni, Cahul and Comrat.
This structure was functional until May 13, 2004, when the reorganization of the Center took place, with the reduction of some subdivisions, as a result of the elimination of 8 general territorial directions. Thus, out of the 9 territorial subdivisions, only two remained in the composition of the Center: the General Territorial Directorate of Balti and the General Territorial Directorate of Cahul.
During the 10 years of existence, C.C.C.E.C. has passed through 9 processes of structural reform and reorganization, 3 times his procedural competences were changed and 5 directors changed.
CCECC Directors:
1. Alexei Roibu
2. Valentin Mejinschi
3. Serghei Pușcuța
4. Serghei Mejinschi
5. Viorel Chetraru
From CCECC to NAC
Throughout the Center's activity, the reports of international institutions, especially the European ones, recommended strengthening the independence of CCECC. Despite these recommendations, until the adoption of Law no. 120 of May 25, 2012, the issue of ensuring the real independence of CCECC it was never given due attention in the processes of its reformation.
As a result of the EU Evaluation Mission, from October 2011, the European Commission adopted a second progress report regarding the implementation by the Republic of Moldova of the Action Plan regarding the liberalization of the visa regime, which mentions the CCECC reform.
The report states:
"The CCECC reform strategy aims at redefining the CCECC 's powers and structure, strengthening the independence guarantees of the institution, increasing the capacities to carry out activities to prevent and fight corruption, to raise awareness of public opinion and to obtain public support. This is a key reform to the overall anti-corruption policy framework. It is welcome that the Republic of Moldova has organized a series of public consultations on its reform plans. No matter what will be the solution adopted in the last instance, the guarantees of independence, operational autonomy and efficiency must prevail. They must be applied not only in the future activities of CCECC, but also in the process of selecting and hiring collaborators. Equally important is ensuring the institution with adequate financial and human resources, as well as ensuring coherence, good cooperation and a clear division of tasks with the other institutions that exercise anti-corruption powers, including the National Integrity Commission, the anti-money laundering unit, the prosecutor's office and other legal bodies.
The reform of the CCECC must go hand in hand with the reform of the legal bodies and the judicial system in order to produce the expected results."
Other important and reference evaluation reports are:
The recommendations of the Expert Mission regarding the review of the competences of law enforcement bodies in the investigation and prosecution of corruption crimes as a result of the evaluation carried out in April 2005 within the Support Program of the National Anti-corruption Strategy of Moldova (PACO Moldova),
The capacity assessment report: the anti-corruption functions of the Center for Combating Economic Crime and Corruption (assessment carried out by the UNDP Regional Center in Bratislava, 2009),
The comprehensive institutional evaluation and the reform plan of the Center for Combating Economic Crimes and Corruption (evaluation carried out within the framework of the EU Support Program in the implementation of agreements between the EU and the Republic of Moldova in 2010) and
The final report on the legal and institutional framework for preventing and fighting corruption in the Republic of Moldova, drawn up at the request of the UNDP Moldova in 2010.
The establishment of a national anti-corruption agency is a common international practice; there is a series of international documents signed and ratified by the Republic of Moldova that contain provisions in this regard:
- The criminal convention on corruption, adopted by the Council of Europe in Strasbourg on January 27, 1999, which was signed by the Republic of Moldova on June 24, 1999 and ratified on October 30, 2003 by Law no. 428-XV, establishes the following: "Each Party adopts the necessary measures to empower persons or entities to specialize in the fight against corruption.
They will have the necessary independence within the fundamental principles of the Party's legal system to be able to exercise their functions effectively and free from any illicit pressure.";
- The UN Convention against Corruption, adopted in New York on October 31, 2003, signed by the Republic of Moldova on September 28, 2004 and ratified by Law no. 158-XVI of July 6, 2007, establishes: "Each state party shall ensure that, according to the fundamental principles of its legal system, there are one or more bodies, as appropriate, tasked with preventing corruption...";
- The declaration on 10 common measures to eradicate corruption in South-East Europe, issued by the Anti-Corruption Initiative of the Stability Pact, signed in Brussels in May 2005, committed the Republic of Moldova to support the sufficient allocation of human and financial resources for the responsible institutions the prevention and eradication of corruption.
On May 25, 2012, the Parliament adopted Law no. 120 on the amendment and completion of some legislative acts, by which the CCECC was reformed. Thus, the CCECC became the National Anticorruption Center (NAC) from October 1, 2012, an independent structure in its activity, which obeys only the law. The NAC presents reports to the Parliament and the Government, the director of the NAC is appointed and dismissed by the Parliament, based on explicitly established criteria.
Selection of the NAC employees. it is done on the basis of very strict procedures, which involve psychological and polygraph checks, and the correctness and honesty of their activity are rigorously supervised, through the application of integrity tests and lifestyle monitoring.
NAC directors
1. Viorel Chetraru
2. Bogdan Zumbreanu
3. Ruslan Flocea
4. Julian Rusu
5. Alexandr Pînzari