NBM EMPLOYEES SHALL BEAR PERSONAL MATERIAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR VIOLATIONS THAT LEAD TO PUBLIC EXPENDITURES - BILL

Moldovan National Bank employees shall be demanded to pay from their pocket for their violations or crimes that have led to unfounded public expenditures for their legal defense, as per the bill approved on Wednesday by the Moldovan Government and sent to the Parliament for consideration and approval.

The authors of this legislative initiative proposed to supplement Article 35 in the Law on state guarantees for NBM employees with a new clause saying that if the Court rules that a bank employee fulfilled his duties improperly and thus caused damage to third persons, this employee must compensate for the NBM's expenses for lawyers, expert examinations and other procedures.

The National Bank categorically disagrees with this, saying that "the central bank is a state institution authorized to fulfill complicated tasks, including the elaboration and realization of the country's monetary, credit and currency policies, banking supervision and regulation, monitoring of the financial market infrastructure etc. In this connection, NBM employees must have a special legal status and sound guarantees to let them fulfill efficiently their duties".

Prime Minister Ion Chicu stated in this connection: "A strange situation has appeared in Moldova, when a part of the National Bank leadership were involved in the one-billion-dollar bank fraud. Now they are being sued for that, but the services of their lawyers are being paid for from the State Budget because this has been stipulated by the Law in its current shape".