The actions undertaken by the NAC, Office of Anticorruption Prosecutor and the Criminal Assets Recovery Agency in investigating the bank fraud, as well as progresses in implementing the National Integrity and Anticorruption Strategy were discussed during a meeting with the representatives of the General Directorate for Economic and Financial Affairs of the European Commission (DG ECFIN). The discussion took place in the context of the DG ECFIN mission to set up a dialogue with the public authorities of the Republic of Moldova, regarding the implementation of the targeted actions in the second instalment of the European Union Program of macro-financial assistance for our country.

Thus, the NAC presented more information regarding the activities carried out by the CARA in the context of recovery of financial means, subtracted from the BC "Banca de Economii" SA, BC "Banca Socială" SA și BC "Unibank" SA. In the aforementioned cases, the Agency conducted parallel financial investigations on the basis of 8 prosecutors' delegation regarding 38 natural persons and 7 legal persons, as a result it identified and preserved, through sequester, assets worth 1 450 871 228,96 lei. As well, the CARA presented the information that refers to the cooperation with foreign institutions to identify criminal assets, mentioning the operational support and rapid exchange of data through the platforms SIENA (Europol) and Interpol. Through these channels, the CARA sent requests in 36 jurisdictions (Europol) and 47 jurisdictions (Interpol), receiving the replies from 64 jurisdictions.

In the framework of the meeting, the NAC presented the note that refers to the implementation of the National Integrity and Anticorruption Strategy for the years 2017-2020 - the document that addresses the public service and, in premiere, the private sector through the prism of ensuring respect for human right and fundamental freedoms, including through the description of the necessity to adopt the Law on the protection of integrity whistleblowers.

At the same time, it was mentioned, that in the process of the Strategy implementation, the NAC ensured the counseling of public entities in the field of the integrity tools, while, at their turn, public institutions fulfilled the strengthening actions of the national integrity system, by ensuring effective parliamentary control over the implementation of the laws and on functioning of independent and regulatory institutions; ensuring the independence and justice efficiency, the prosecution, the NAC, Ani, CEC and CC; strengthening the role of the Ombudsman, in the process of integrity whistleblowers' protection, reducing corruption risks in the private sector, as well as strengthening the participation of the civil society in monitoring the national integrity climate.

Also, for the effective implementation of anti-corruption policies, the NAC in the partnership with UNPD Moldova, carried out a series of activities such as:

* practical anti-corruption training workshops,

* activities of strengthening the capacities of NGOs in alternative monitoring of the Strategy

* public consultations on the implementation of the actions foreseen in the Sectoral Plans of anti-corruption actions for the following fields: education, public procurement, administration and deetatization of public property,

* establishing the integrity mentoring program for each sector, which aims to ensure the methodological support of the public entities involved in the implementation of the measures contained in the sectoral / local plans of anticorruption actions, by offering the possibility of counseling on the anti-corruption and integrity side;

* launching the initiative to evaluate the anti-corruption initiatives, by identifying, estimating the most effective achievements and informing the public about the good practices registered by the public entities in the implementation of the sectoral anti-corruption initiatives.

We note that the meeting was held in the context of the implementation by the National Anticorruption Center, the Office of Anticorruption Prosecutor and the Criminal Assets Recovery Agency of the actions provided in Annex no.1 "Structure of the reform criteria" of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Republic of Moldova and the European Union on the Program of macro-financial assistance.