A new high-level meeting of the NAC director, Iulian Rusu, took place this week. EU high-level  advisers paid a  visit to the National Anticorruption Center to discuss assistance projects aimed at increasing the capacity of the Anticorruption Center. The officials expressed their willingness to provide support in councelling and qualified expertise in the areas of inter-institutional cooperation, investigation, as well as criminal assets recovery.

In his speech, the head of the NAC mentioned that the institution needs reliable mechanisms to reduce large-scale and systemic corruption, in order to have these tools, leverage is needed to accelerate reforms. “I recognize the importance of fighting systemic corruption, but we need a paradigm shift so that we can focus on fighting corruption at a high level. In this process, we rely on the support of our development partners. We have already developed a cooperation program with three assistance projects that are ready to support us in their areas of expertise. We are open to even wider cooperation with everyone who can help the Republic of Moldova and especially law enforcement bodies in eradicating corruption,” said Iulian Rusu.

The EU high-level adviser for combating corruption, Pawel Wojtunik, who was present at the meeting, stressed the importance of legislative changes aimed at strengthening the competences of the NAC. “The institution must have a strong investigative capacity. The NAC needs strong tools to cooperate with other law enforcement agencies at home and abroad, and through these connections, the effectiveness of the institution will also increase,” the official said.

The opinion was also supported by Satu Seppanen, EU high-level adviser  for justice and Prosecutor's Office, adding that to achieve the expected results, it is necessary to strengthen the team of the Center. “Citizens' trust in the potential of the NAC should be increased, and this is possible if there is trust in the staff of the institution. This is the only way to get good feedback. This is a modern approach. The institution should be a model of honesty,” the high-level adviser concluded.

Claudine Justafre, an expert seconded to the Presidency of the Republic of Moldova, noted that one of the main tools that the NAC can effectively use to demonstrate the finality of its actions is further development of  criminal assets recovery subdivision. “We are open to support the Criminal Assets Recovery Agency (CARA) under the NAC, including consultations and the exchange of best practices. We will provide qualified assistance in the development and promotion of the draft law on the Criminal Assets Recovery Agency (CARA) and provide operational support to improve international cooperation,” the expert added.

We remind, that last week the NAC director held a series of meetings with representatives of the associative sector, as well as with the representatives of various authorities from abroad. During the negotiations, the partners expressed their readiness to support the National Anticorruption Center in preventing and combating corruption.