On October 13, the Moldovan authorities lost a significant thing for every citizen of Moldova, something of national and international relevance. The authorities lost the Council of Europe Report on Corruption in Moldova, a document developed by GRECO – the Group of States Against Corruption. It contained over 20 pages that reveal corruption and corruptibility in our country.

 GRECO conducts regular evaluations. Following the last assessment in 2016, Moldova received recommendations to address concrete issues on corruption, including legislative adjustments on parliamentarians, prosecutors, and judges.

In mid-October 2020, GRECO detected that Moldovan authorities had considered only four out of 18 recommendations presented in the report. The Moldovan authorities had to state and report on Moldova’s corruption and why they ignore or refuse the fight against it. The Council of Europe calls on Moldova to fulfill its obligations as long as the country is part of it. Moreover, the Chisinau Parliamentary Delegation, which is part of the PACE (Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe), regularly goes to Strasbourg to reaffirm the state’s commitments to democracy, respect for human rights, transparency, and the fight against corruption.

It seems that the authorities have deliberately hidden the report from October 13. The official web pages of the Parliament or the Presidency did not mention a word about the document. However, the head of the Moldovan Parliament shared posts on various topics, such as “the International Children’s Day,” “the Day of Slavonic Writing and Culture,” or “the Victory Day.” The official webpage does not have any content on fighting against corruption.

The Government probably has not even reviewed the report. Moreover, the ZdG journalists find out that even the Ministry of Justice has not announced the report, although it targets corruption in the judiciary system explicitly. The Minister of Justice Fadei Nagacevschi’s latest press releases congratulated on the latest Moldovan holidays, but nothing about justice, prosecutor’s office, judges, and any other system integrity issues. The Moldovan authorities have different priorities.

The Group of States Against Corruption made previous recommendations in 2016 when Igor Dodon became President of Moldova. The fight against corruption should not be reinvented. An evaluation of the legislation and other related institutions has already been carried out. The decision-makers only needed to include the report in the official schedule and implement it. The fight against corruption was to be the national goal of the newly elected president. During the four-year term, Igor Dodon committed countless corrupt practices and constant actions to conceal information about income, business, and vacations. Now, he must stand trial and be sentenced.