Sources of Income Received by MIR Cards Will Be Blocked

Acting Prosecutor General Ion Munteanu confirms that lists are created in Moldovan localities in which people provide their personal data under the pretext of opening accounts for Mir bank cards, to which they will receive money from Russia every month. Munteanu said on air on ProTV that the relevant institutions are monitoring this situation and, if necessary, will block the source of these incomes. “We are aware of such information, of the data collection to open all types of bank cards. Together with our colleagues from the Anti-Money Laundering Service, the National Bank, the Tax Service, we will monitor very closely all types of transactions that will be received on such cards, we will identify their source, if necessary we will take measures to block these source. It is one of the ways in which they are now trying to illegally finance various actions that undermine state sovereignty”. Individuals give consent to the collection of personal data, otherwise it would be illegal, Ion Munteanu added. “According to the information available, people consent to the collection of such data. If they do not, they can file a complaint with the relevant institutions that their personal data has been collected.” In her Facebook post, Tatiana Codreanu, vice-chair of the Moldovan National Party, said that in addition to collecting personal data to open Mir cards, people are also charged money. In return, they have to vote against our country’s integration into the EU at the autumn referendum and support the fugitive Ilan Sor, sentenced to 15 years in prison in a “bank fraud” case, at the presidential election. We shall remind you that in early April, the Bashkan of Gagauzia, Evghenia Gutul, promised pensioners and state employees of the Gagauz autonomy monthly allowances paid by Russia. During her visit to Moscow, she agreed with the head of a Russian bank to conduct bank transfers through the Mir payment system, banned in Moldova due to military sanctions. According to Finance Minister Petru Rotaru, the bank payment system that Bashkan Evghenia Gutul wants to use for Russian allocations is not among the financial trading platforms licensed in Moldova. The National Bank explained that the residents of the autonomy who will have such cards in Moldova will not be able to carry out transactions with them. “Activity within such a card payment system can be carried out only after obtaining authorization from the NBM, and the National Bank has not issued it,” the NBM stated. Mir cards are blocked internationally but promised by Evghenia Gutul. Russia’s Promsvyazbank, a banking service against which the EU has imposed sanctions for Russia’s war against Ukraine and with which the Bashkan of Gagauzia has signed a cooperation agreement, has not applied for authorization or licensing from the National Bank of Moldova, the only institution in the country that can do that. But it is important to note that the bank card operator Mir, the Russian alternative to Visa and Mastercard, has been under US sanctions against Russia since its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The bashkan of Gagauzia is accused in a case under the general title “illegal financing of the former SOR party”. Today it was reported that the criminal case against Evghenia Gutul was submitted to the court.