The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (PA) argues that the adoption by the Parliament of the draft providing for the delimitation of the competences of the PA and the National Anti-Corruption Centre (NAC), in the version voted in the first reading, “would not ensure the achievement of the project’s purpose”.

Thus, according to the Prosecutor’s Office, “by substantially increasing the number of subjects and reducing the amount of damages in the case of offences under the jurisdiction of the NAC, the draft law adopted at the moment would have the opposite effect to the intended purpose, which would lead to a substantial increase in the number of criminal cases under the management of the NAC and the AP”.

“The Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office considers it imperative to return to the previous version sent for approval (attached below), which would result in a reduction of about 23% of the total volume of criminal cases under the management of the PA or about 40% of the number of cases under prosecution.

At the moment, the AP has more than 1100 cases under management, including about 600 that are at the prosecution stage and 500 that are at the trial stage. The PA prosecutors are responsible for conducting the prosecution of cases under the NAC’s prosecution body (about 350 cases), directly prosecuting cases under the PA’s jurisdiction (about 250) and supporting the prosecution in court in all corruption and related cases (about 500 cases throughout Moldova)”, say representatives of the Prosecutor’s Office.

The PA claims that there are 52 prosecutors working in the institution, 20% of whom are prosecutors delegated from other prosecutor’s offices.

“Prosecutors are responsible for verifying the decisions to initiate or not initiate criminal proceedings, for drawing up applications for authorizing searches and special investigative measures, for applying seizures, for drawing up letters rogatory to other countries, for applying or requesting the application or extension of preventive measures. They are the ones who draw up the procedural documents in the case file, the indictment and the indictment, they support the prosecution in court. We are aware of the criticism from citizens, domestic and foreign experts, development partners, including representatives of European Union structures, and others that for too long the Moldovan authorities, responsible for fighting corruption and law enforcement, have only investigated, prosecuted and convicted low-level offenders.

For the year 2022, out of 147 people convicted in cases where the state prosecution was supported by the AP, only 12% were sentenced to life imprisonment. This reflects the fact that the cases coming before the judges are mostly for less serious offences where the law allows for conditional suspension of the execution of a prison sentence.

If we want good results in high-profile cases, then the limited resources of PA prosecutors and NAC officers must be applied to fighting high-level corruption and systemic corruption. The version of the law sent for endorsement in February 2023, attached below, has arrived at a wording that would achieve the goal we are aiming for and which is also a condition for accession to the European Union and a commitment to the International Monetary Fund. We want the Parliament to vote on a draft law that will help the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office to fight grand corruption,” says a statement from the institution.

On 30 March 2023, Parliament voted in first reading on a draft law to delimit the powers of the PA and the NAC when investigating high-level corruption cases. The draft law was supported in the first reading by 54 MPs.

The authors of the legislative initiative propose that the function of criminal investigation of high-level corruption should be exercised by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office. At the same time, the National Anti-Corruption Centre will investigate cases of systemic corruption and petty corruption will be investigated by the prosecution body of the Ministry of Interior. More specifically, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office will prosecute cases committed by the President of the country, MPs, members of the Government, judges, prosecutors, NAC employees, SIS management and intelligence and security officers.