Moldovan parliament establishes Anti-Corruption College, to judge high-level corruption cases

The parliament has established a specialized anti-corruption framework at law courts. Thus, an Anti-Corruption College will operate in the Chisinau Court, and specialized anti-corruption panels will be set up at the Centru Court of Appeal, in order to judge high-level corruption cases, unjustified wealth confiscation cases initiated by the National Integrity Authority (ANI), and to conduct judicial review of acts issued by ANI.

According to the legislative amendments endorsed by the Venice Commission, the Anti-Corruption College will initially judge criminal cases related to corruption, if they were committed by individuals appointed by Parliament, the President of Moldova, or the government; high-level public officials; National Anti-Corruption Center employees in connection with fulfilment of their job duties; the deputy director of the State Tax Service, the Customs Service, the Public Procurement Agency, etc.

At the same time, criminal cases involving the sum of money or other benefits claimed, promised, accepted, provided, given or received exceeds 500,000 lei, or if the value of the damage caused by crime exceeds 5 million lei, will also be judged.

Also, the specialized anti-corruption judicial panels set up at the Centre Court of Appeals will hear appeals and recourses against the court decisions pronounced in the first instance by the Anti-Corruption College.

The Anti-Corruption College will include 15 judges. It will operate in a separate building in the Chisinau city and will be led by the deputy president of the Chisinau Court. Meanwhile, at the Centru Court of Appeal, two specialized panels have been established, each comprising three judges.

The document also contains provisions regarding the criteria for selecting judges for the Anti-Corruption College and the specialized anti-corruption panels of the Centru Court of Appeal, the procedure for appointing them, as well as certain social and security guarantees for the judges who will examine high-level corruption offenses and related causes.

The legislative provisions will come into force one month after their publication in the Official Journal, with certain exceptions.