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Home / Mass-Media / Events / More backing for the CARA. Criminal assets recovery, on the agenda of the NAC and the World Bank
More backing for the CARA. Criminal assets recovery, on the agenda of the NAC and the World Bank
26.09.2022 2467 ViewsCriminal assets recovery remains on the agenda of the NAC as a priority subject in fighting corruption, but also as an issue that requires urgent solutions regarding international cooperation. Thus, a meeting was held, today, with the participation of the director of the NAC, Iulian Rusu, chief anti-corruption prosecutor, Veronica Dragalin and the representative of the World Bank Mission/Stolen Assets Recovery Initiative (StAR), Laura Pop.
According to the NAC director, currently, the CARA (Criminal Assets Recovery Agency), a specialized subdivision, makes considerable efforts to detect and recover embezzled assets, both inside and outside of the country. An important issue remains late replies or lack thereof to the rogatory commissions, transmitted by the prosecutors to foreign jurisdictions, as well as limited personnel of the CARA to cover a wide spectrum of activity.
According to Iulian Rusu, the NAC has focused primarily on improving cooperation with international entities. ”We have a stringent need to boost the processes and have an open cooperation with the jurisdictions as Cyprus, Israel, the United Emirates to investigate more crimes of major impact, that will terminate with the recovery of proceeds of crime. Also, we are looking for solutions to supply the CARA personnel, today, there is a big number of delegations from the authorizing officers, and all of them demand an equally high volume of work and resources. More recently, we have been dealing with new elements in criminal activity, such as cryptocurrency transactions and to investigate these transactions we need advanced equipment to carry out operative investigations, as well as the involvement of other subdivisions, that can provide operative support or expertise”, pointed out the NAC director.
The chief of the Anticorruption Prosecution Office, Veronica Gragalin, has supported the importance of the issue, addressed by the NAC director, regarding communication with foreign jurisdictions. ”We face multiple challenges in identifying assets abroad. We concentrate common efforts of task force groups, that include officers from the National Anticorruption Center, the Anticorruption Prosecution Office, as well as other law enforcement bodies, that collaborate in a number of joint operations and whose competences include the identification, seizure and recovery of criminal assets in resonant cases. These assets, many of which are outside the country, must reach the budget of the Republic of Moldova”, underlined Dragalin.
In her turn, Laura Pop, senior specialist in financial sector and consultancy, mentioned that the problems raised by the NAC and AP, that refer to investigation of crimes that generate illicit profits demonstrate that both institutions have the same intention. ”We are willing to provide support in counseling and making expertise to help the authorities move forward in the started processes. Obviously, we are all under the same umbrella, because we want to speed up the proceedings, especially the case of the bank fraud, that we consider very important. Having common work objectives, we want them to be achieved as soon as possible”.
Last week, the NAC leadership met with several British asset recovery experts, that pledged consultancy support to the CARA in improving its efficiency.