Aspects of investigating illegal financing of initiative groups, electoral contestants and voter corruption in the attention of judges, prosecutors and investigation officers of NAC and IGP

26. 03. 2024

„The peculiarities of investigating and prosecuting crimes of illegal financing of political parties, electoral contestants, initiative groups, or electoral campaigns. Voter corruption” is the generic of the continuing training course held on Tuesday, March 26, 2024, at the National Institute of Justice.

The event brought together judges, prosecutors, criminal investigation officers from the National Anti-Corruption Center, as well as representatives of the Inspector General of Police, who were trained by Oscar Sanchez Muoz, substitute member of the Venice Commission, CoE consultant, Pavel Postica, CEC deputy president, and NIJ trainers – Gennadi Epure, Prosecutor of Anticorruption Prosecution, CoE expert, and Elena Cobzac, resignation judge, UNDP expert.

In the opening of the event – moderated by Sergiu Tatarov, project manager of the Council of Europe - spoke Pavel Postica, Vice President of the Central Electoral Commission, Ecaterina Popa, Head of the Training and Research Department of the National Institute of Justice, John Riordan, Deputy Director of the USAID Mission Moldova, Daniela Gasparikova, Resident Representative of UNDP Moldova, and Marius Ciprian Toth, Deputy Head of the Council of Europe Office in Chisinau. In their speeches, was mentioned the importance of increasing in mixed format the judges, prosecutors and investigation officers’ capacities in the field of financing electoral campaigns and political parties in the context of the electoral elections to be held in the Republic of Moldova.

The training programme aimed at strengthening key skills and competences in the field of investigating and examining illegal financing crimes of political parties, electoral competitors and election campaigns; elucidating regulatory and enforcement impediments to the financing of political parties, including international and national practices. Also, the participants of the training were familiar with both the legislative provisions on the conditions and how to finance political parties, initiative groups or electoral contestants, as well as with the methods of investigating cases of violation of legislation and the prosecution of electoral corruption offences.

The training was organized by the National Institute of Justice and Central Electoral Commission in the framework of UNDP Project „Enhancing democracy in Moldova trough inclusive and transparent elections” with the support of U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID Moldova) and CoE Project Improving Electoral Practice in the Republic of Moldova.