Moldovan president asks Europe’s anti-fraud prosecutor to help confiscate assets of fugitive oligarchs

Moldovan President Maia Sandu says fighting endemic corruption is a major goal of her government as the country moves toward joining the European Union.

Ms Sandu met the chief of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office Laura Codruta Kovesi in Chisinau on Tuesday to ask for help in rooting out graft and prosecuting Moldovans who have fled the country.

„Fighting corruption.. remains the priority of the governing team. We focus our efforts on eliminating abusive practices in the management of public money and properties and on providing institutions in the justice sector effective tools to combat the scourge of corruption,” she said.

Ms Kovesi, formerly Romania’s formidable anti-corruption chief prosecutor who now heads the EU’s financial crime watchdog is on a three-day visit to Chisinau on July 11-14, where she will meet senior officials and anti-corruption chiefs.

The Moldovan president asked for help in pursuing corruption suspects who fled to Europe, including confiscating assets and property they hold in the in the EU.

„Progress in this area is more difficult, especially when investigating high-level corruption or identifying and recovery of assets transferred abroad,” she said.

“We count… on the cooperation between Moldovan criminal investigation bodies and  prosecutors within the European Public Prosecutor’s Office.”

Moldova’s Prosecutor-General’s Office and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office will sign a cooperation agreement on Tuesday.

Ms Sandu also called for closer cooperation with the European Public Prosecutor’s Office on the management of European funds, including pre-accession funds that Chisinau is eligible for after it was given the status of EU candidate on June 23.

„Money from donors must be used efficiently and honestly, in the interest of citizens and the modernization of the country, to improve the… services offered to people.”

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