The Ministry of Justice has drafted amendments to Article 236 of the Criminal Code, which regulates offenses related to the manufacture and circulation of counterfeit money or securities.
For the predicate offense, the penalty for individuals would increase from the current 5-10 years of imprisonment to 5-12 years of imprisonment. In the case of aggravating circumstances, such as acts committed by an organized criminal group or on a particularly large scale, the sanction will be increased from 7-15 years to a stricter threshold of 10 to 15 years of imprisonment. For legal entities, the sanctions will increase from the current level of 2,000-5,000 conventional units to an amount of 10,000 to 13,000 conventional units with deprivation of the right to engage in certain activities. Under aggravating circumstances, sanctions for legal entities will increase from 4000-7000 conventional units to a range of 20,000 to 40,000 conventional units.
The Criminal Code is trying to keep up with technology
The bill introduces severe penalties for a new category of acts related to logistics and technology behind money counterfeiting. In particular, it will become a criminal offense to produce, import, export, receive, store or transfer tools, objects, computer programs, computer data or security features (such as holograms and watermarks) specially adapted for the production of counterfeit money. This act will be punishable by imprisonment of 3 to 6 years with a fine of 1,500 to 3,000 conventional units for individuals, while legal entities will face a fine of 8,000 to 10,000 conventional units and a ban on activity. If committed by or for the benefit of an organized criminal group or criminal organization, the penalty increases to 4 to 8 years’ imprisonment with a fine of up to 5,000 conventional units for individuals, while for companies the fine will increase to 15,000 to 20,000 conventional units.
Responsible Authority
To ensure the effective application of these measures, the draft also provides for the establishment of a national think tank. The new law is planned to enter into force three months after its official publication in the Monitorul Oficial al Republicii Moldova. It is to be reviewed by the Government.
