Moldova's anti-corruption reform: PACCO office creation explained
Prime Minister Dorin Recean has stated that the creation of the Anti-Corruption and Organized Crime Prosecutor's Office (PACCO) is currently necessary, as the situation has changed.
According to him, the Republic of Moldova has far more prosecutors than the standard, and the funds allocated to fight corruption have not yielded the expected results.
"Previously, organized groups were only involved in money laundering, drugs, and organized crime, but now organized crime is also engaged in corruption, including electoral and political corruption," he emphasized. "Therefore, it is an objective necessity for us to reorganize how criminal prosecution is carried out."
Recean further highlighted that in Moldova, the number of prosecutors per capita is, in general, twice the norm. Additionally, a significant portion of the budget—around 30 percent—is allocated to anti-corruption activities, yet these efforts are not producing results. "We need to restructure. We are creating a new institution, and as a result, we will automatically dissolve two that are ineffective," he concluded.
Recean also pointed out that society has, in a way, become disappointed with the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office. "The expectation, including mine, was that a fresh face would come in and change the Prosecutor's Office. What happened is that the Prosecutor's Office changed this person. Instead of fighting corruption, the Prosecutor's Office is fighting to preserve the status quo."
The bill for creating PACCO, a specialized institution designed to combat corruption, organized crime, terrorism, and torture, was published on Thursday, February 13. The new institution will be responsible for criminal prosecution in cases of corruption, torture crimes, terrorism, organized crime, as well as coordinating investigations and representing the prosecution in all levels of courts, including electoral fraud and complex financial crimes, such as political money laundering.
The bill was registered a day earlier in Parliament.
Justice Minister Veronica Mihailov-Moraru announced on January 29 that the proposal to merge the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (PA) and the Prosecutor's Office for Combating Organized Crime and Special Causes (PCCOCS) aims to improve the investigation of corruption and organized crime cases. Until then, complex cases may be transferred to a newly established section within the Prosecutor's General Office, which will focus on political corruption and money laundering. Authorities are also considering supplementing this section with prosecutors from PA and PCCOCS to collaborate on electoral and political corruption cases.
However, PA head Veronica Dragalin contested the merger, arguing that no plausible or convincing reasons had been presented to justify it. The head of PCCOCS, Victor Furtună, did not comment on the initiative, while Prosecutor General Ion Munteanu stated that he would provide details after reviewing the proposal.
Translation by Iurie Tataru
