29 October 2024
On 27 October 2024, electoral debates took place between the two candidates in the electoral campaign for presidential elections that will compete in the second round of elections on 3 November - Maia SANDU and Alexandr STOIANOGLO.
During the debates, Mr. Stoianoglo referred to the Report no. 1 “The Offshore Republic. Review of factors leading to systemic fraud and money laundering in Moldova’s banking, financial and insurance sectors”, published by the Independent Anti-Corruption Advisory Committee (CCIA)[1] in July 2022. Mr. Stoianoglo mentioned (starting at min. 5.10) that he was an exemplary Prosecutor General, that during his tenure persons involved in the Bank Fraud were held accountable. He referred to CCIA Report no. 1, page 44, to confirm that when he was Prosecutor General, most of the criminal cases related to the Bank Fraud were sent to the court.
CCIA is an independent structure composed of international and national experts and publishes evidence-based reports on systemic corruption in the Moldovan government. It produces actionable recommendations to address the issues it finds. It is non-partisan and is not involved in any electoral campaign. Until now, CCIA has published several reports tackling corruption in the Republic of Moldova.
That being said, CCIA would like to clarify the remarks made by Mr. Stoianoglo. CCIA Report no. 1 does list Bank Fraud-related cases that were under investigation or court examination during the period in question. Its source on the matter was the Anti-Corruption Prosecutors Office (APO). These cases were investigated by APO as an independent entity within the Prosecutor General's Office, not by Mr. Stoianoglo or the PGO itself. Furthermore, also at that time, not all Bank Fraud cases to which Mr. Stoianoglo referred in the CCIA report were sent to court, some of them were in the stage of criminal investigation, as indicated by APO.
CCIA will continue to analyze systemic corruption issues that cut across Moldovan institutions and to perform research based on reliable facts and sources.
[1] The Independent Anti-Corruption Advisory Committee (CCIA) was established in June 2021 by Presidential Decree as a joint independent international and national body. Its main purpose is to analyze systemic corruption issues that cut across Moldovan institutions and improve implementation of anti-corruption measures by the relevant parties. The Committee performs research based on reliable facts and sources, then publishes its recommendations to optimize the effectiveness of the efforts of the Republic of Moldova in leading the fight against corruption. Subsequently, the CCIA assesses the implementation of said measures by state actors and stakeholders and renders the findings public.
