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The initiative to restrict investments from offshore zones, including in the media, was voted in second reading

11 November 2021
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În Moldova
At the meeting of November 11, the Parliament voted on the draft law that provides, among other things, for prohibiting in Moldova media businesses originating in offshore zones or the ones that have been involved in money laundering. 55 MPs voted to approve the draft law.
The initiative lists the conditions in which investors can carry out investment activities and the supervision mechanisms in areas that are important for state security, including the media and audiovisual services. The document had been drawn up by a group of MPs from the Action and Solidarity Party (PAS).

At the beginning of the meeting, the MP Vlad Batrâncea from the faction of the Bloc of Communists and Socialists proposed excluding the examination of the draft law on the grounds that this initiative may “create problems” for investors. “Not only members of the Parliament or the Government, but also businesses did not understand the role and purpose of this draft law. We believe that Moldova, unfortunately, does not enjoy much attention from investors. We believe that the legislation should be permissive in this regard. The draft law contains some ambiguous and unclear formulations, introduces certain restrictions and arbitrary control over investments,” Vlad Batrâncea said.

The MP Dumitru Alaiba from PAS, a co-author of the initiative, rejected these accusations. “I don’t know what investors you are talking to in your bloc, maybe from offshores, but we have had some consultations with business associations, with the representatives of investors. We have found formulations to accommodate them, too. This draft law is urgent because we must protect our strategic infrastructure from obscure interests,” Dumitru Alaiba said.

Batrâncea’s proposal was not supported. According to him, his faction might challenge the initiative at the Constitutional Court.

The document lists areas of importance for state security, including the media and audiovisual services, access to personal data or ability to control this information, administration of public state registers, information security and much more.

According to proposals, investment in the mentioned areas cannot be carried out by foreign individuals and legal entities that are resident in offshore zones; have already been involved in money laundering and financing of terrorism; might conduct illegal or criminal activities, according to information from competent authorities; have or had connections with organized groups, special services, or groups of foreign countries that have connections with international terrorist organizations or with people allegedly belonging to them; might increase the risk or represent a threat for state security; and so on.

The authors of this initiative have provided that the examination of investment projects in the mentioned areas shall be performed by a body under the Government – the Council for Promotion of Investment Projects Important for State Security.