The Law on Voluntary Declaration and Tax Incentives in the Republic of Moldova doesn't pose any risk on legalizing money laundering "if it is properly implemented". The declaration belongs to an international expert who collaborated with Moneyval, an institution specialized in preventing and combating money laundering, writes ziarulnational.md.

The specialist whose name is kept confidential, says he has an international "vast experience" on the application of voluntary compliance schemes and has been involved in developing a similar law in Israel.

In the expert's opinion, four basic principles are needed to prevent money laundering in implementing this type of program.

"It is the implementation of measures to prevent and combat the phenomenon, exceptions are prohibited to application of the provisions for prevention and combating money laundering and financing of terrorism, coordination and cooperation between the national, international institutions in the field", said the expert in National newspaper. 

The source notes that in the first chapter, all necessary procedures are provided by law and the actions are to be executed, including verifying the source of the assets by all reporting entities, including banks, notaries and professional financial market participants.

"The law proposes a mechanism for voluntary declaration of goods, but it does not change any of the provisions of the state's obligations to combat and prevent money laundering and terrorism financing," the expert who studied the document said.

Second principle regarding exceptions to the application of anti-money laundering measures, the expert found that the document does not include anything that would suggest such exceptions. On the contrary, the competent authorities plan to follow the law enforcement risks based on a program of their analysis.

Regarding the domestic authorities' duty to cooperate in enforcing law enforcement, the specialist notes that signing collaboration and information exchange agreements between FISC, the Central Bank and other competent authorities that have access to police databases is foreseen. This will allow identification of any previously known subject for involvement in money laundering schemes in the country or abroad, the specialist is convinced.

The fourth principle needs to be ensured by establishing as much legal cooperation as possible, including exchange of information on international money laundering investigations.

"The proposed document concerns only Moldovan citizens, which reduces the risk of international abuses. However, the law provides for the identification of potential beneficiaries with dual citizenship and the establishment of prompt internal procedures for swift exchange of information and international cooperation on any case of suspicion of washing money and terrorism financing ".

Thus, according to the cited source, if the law is properly implemented, then "it will ensure rigorous risk management in line with international best practices and international standards to prevent and combat money laundering."

Moneyval is a permanent monitoring structure for the Council of Europe, specialized in preventing and combating money laundering.