The Soros Foundation Moldova and the National Anticorruption Center have signed a cooperation agreement to increase the quality of the criminal recovery system in the Republic of Moldova. The agreement was signed by Petru Culeac, executive director of the Soros Foundation Moldova and Iulian Rusu, director of the National Anticorruption Center, on March 31, 2022.

"The Soros Foundation Moldova pays great attention to fight against corruption. We have already supported the authorities of the Republic of Moldova in this regard, so that the state institutions responsible for this field are effective. I thank the NAC team for their openness and sincere intention to develop the institution that is responsible for identification, tracking, seizure and administration of illegally obtained assets. In fact, we invest in people, because people make institutions strong", said Petru Culeac, the executive director of the Soros Foundation Moldova.

"We appreciate your generous support and contribution to strengthening the CARA's recovery capacity. We are grateful for your help and involvement. We will harness this assistance, deliver results and efficiency. I assure you that the Agency makes considerable efforts to fulfill its mission, and with the support of the partners and teammates we will be able to mark performance in the interest of citizens ", said Iulian Rusu, the director of the National Anticorruption Center.

The agreement provides for an increase in the communication skills of the CARA employees; improving external communication on the results of the criminal recovery process and the role of the CARA in this process; assessing the CARA's needs to overcome institutional obstacles and strengthen the system of criminal assets recovery; improving the regulatory framework by drafting secondary legislation.

We remind you that the Soros Foundation Moldova is part of the working group for the elaboration of the National Program for the Recovery of Criminal Assets. "The foundation started cooperating with the Criminal Assets Recovery Agency last year. We are working on the development of a needs assessment process of the Agency, on drafting of the National Program for the Recovery of Criminal Assets. It is a problem that the CARA does not have the power to freeze assets on its own initiative or at the request of an authority. We will also develop a mechanism for the social reuse of criminal assets", said Natalia Camburian, the director of the Good Governance Department of the Soros Foundation Moldova, at the first meeting of the working group.

To achieve these objectives, the Soros Foundation Moldova has hired two foreign experts with over 20 years of experience in the field. These are Pedro Gomes Pereira, a former prosecutor in Brazil, an expert in the field of anti-corruption and property recovery, and Radu Nicolae, an adviser to the European Commission on confiscation and seizing of criminal assets. Pedro Gomes Pereira drafted the National Crime Recovery Program which was presented to the Working Group on March 24, 2022.

The Criminal Assets Recovery Agency (CARA) was established 5 years ago. During this period, together with the prosecutors, the CARA identified dozens of intermediaries and actual beneficiaries of goods, obtained from fraud and applied seizures worth about 6.5 billion lei. Among the seized assets are real estate, luxury cars, aircraft, yachts, real estate, share capital and bank accounts, both in the country and abroad.