In October of last year, ANI received a notification through which the petitioner informed that Ion Bocanthe mayor of the village of Iurceni in the district of Nisporeni, allegedly admitted a conflict of interest by hiring his wife as the interim director of the kindergarten in the locality, under the management of the local public authorities.
After analyzing and verifying the circumstances, the integrity inspector from ANI found out that the local elected official from Iurceni admitted an undeclared and unresolved conflict of interest, and adopted several decisions in favor of his wife. Ion Bocan explained that he did not sign any act in favor of his wife and that, in fact, the activity of the preschool institution was monitored by the secretary of the Local Council, specifically to avoid a conflict of interests. In the ANI act it is said that in this case the National Integrity Authority should have been notified about the potential conflict of interest anyway. At the end of 2022, Ion Bocan wrote a resignation letter of his own accord and currently no longer holds the position of mayor of the village of Iurceni.
Citizens are encouraged to notify the authorities with control powers
Cases of employment or public procurement in the “family” are frequent in localities in our country, this is why ANI representatives encourage citizens to report them, in order to eliminate possible illegalities. “We urge people to inform us if a public official in their locality, the subject of the declaration, has admitted a conflict of interest, either by employing relatives in the institution he leads or by using public assets for personal gain. If the petitions correspond to all the legal norms, they are examined by our inspectors”, he claims Lilian Chiscathe vice-president of ANI.
The ANI representative also recommends the subjects of the declaration to inform the authority about possible incompatibilities of functions or conflicts of interest and consult how to proceed in one case or another.
One third of reports come from individuals
In 2022, a total of 606 petitions were registered at ANI, including 225 from individuals. In other words, a third of the reports are from citizens, which denotes an active involvement of people in reporting alleged violations and abuses. Most of the time, non-declaration or erroneous declaration of assets and properties, conflicts of interests or incompatibilities of functions of some subjects of the declaration are reported.
The assets of the cohabitants are also checked
right Law on the declaration of wealth and personal intereststhe subject of the declaration is obliged to declare wealth and personal interests and those of his family (husband/wife, minor child, including adoptive or dependent). At the same time, they are obliged to declare the property of the cohabitant/concubine if they are in cohabitation. According to the same legislative act, persons who, during the previous fiscal year, lived together for at least 183 days are presumed to have the status of cohabitant.
Subjects of declaration of assets and interests
Law on Declaration of Assets and Interests
Aliona Zaharia, reporter, Independent Press Association (API)
This material is developed with the support of the project “Consolidation of the Rule of Law and Anticorruption Mechanisms in the Republic of Moldova” co-financed by the European Union and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), and implemented by the German International Cooperation Agency (GIZ). The opinions expressed represent the opinion of the authors and do not necessarily represent the position of the funders and GIZ. Funders and GIZ do not influence in any way the selection of the subject of the material.
