President Maia Sandu announced on Monday, June 7, the creation of the Independent Anticorruption Advisory Committee that consists of lawyers, economists, and investigative journalists that will investigate and identify cases of corruption and submit reports. The work of the Committee will be financially supported by the EU and the US.

According to President Sandu, the Independent Anticorruption Advisory Committee will investigate and identify cases of corruption and submit reports. The head of state also mentioned that the work of the Committee will be financially supported by the EU and US development partners. Sandu specified that the Committee is independent and does not subordinate to any institutions in Moldova.

“This group of lawyers, economists, and investigative journalists will investigate cases of major corruption in Moldova and we hope that this information will be useful to law enforcement. The Moldovan citizens are not alone. Development partners understand how serious the problem of corruption in Moldova is and this group will be supported by the EU and the USA. This group is constituted by a decree of the President of Moldova, but here ends the interaction between the Presidency and the Committee. This Committee will present reports and suspicions of corruption. This Committee can investigate any suspicion of corruption regardless of who is investigated,” said President Maia Sandu.

In this context, the chairman of the Committee, James Wasserstrom, stated that the organization will analyze “why anti-corruption institutions in Moldova are not functional”.

“We know that there are anti-corruption institutions in Moldova, but our Committee must determine why these institutions are not functional. Why does corruption remain a concern? The committee will present reports based on evidence and not on speculations and gossip,” said James Wasserstrom, chairman of the Independent Anticorruption Counseling Committee.

The director of Ziarul de Gardă, Alina Radu, is the co-chair of the Independent Anticorruption Advisory Committee. Alina Radu expressed her hope that “this new entity will bring Moldova what it needs more – an effective fight against corruption.”

“I joined this Committee because I have been pursuing corruption for many years, I have been leading Ziarul de Gardă for 17 years. I have participated in many national and international anti-corruption projects and I very much hope that this new entity will bring Moldova what it needs more – an effective fight against corruption,” said Alina Radu, co-chair of the Independent Anticorruption Advisory Committee.

The committee consists of six members: James Wasserstrom (Chairman of the Committee, UN expert), Drago Kos (Council of Europe Anticorruption Center expert), Laura Ștefan (lawyer, anti-corruption coordinator for Expert Forum), Alina Radu (investigative journalist, the director of Ziarul de Gardă), Tamara Razin (economist) and Nadejda Hriptievschi (lawyer, founder and director of the Justice and Human Rights program at the Center for Legal Resources in Moldova).

According to Committee members, this is the third such group. Similar groups have been organized in Afghanistan and Ukraine.