The special pre-selection commission for the candidates for the position of chief prosecutor of the Prosecutor’s Office for Combating Organised Crime and Special Cases (PCCOC), which met in a closed session on Monday, 23 January, to examine the candidates’ files in terms of eligibility criteria, decided that the three candidates for the position of head of the PCCOCS “meet the eligibility criteria” and were promoted to the interview stage.

Thus, according to a press release issued by the Superior Council of Prosecutors (CSP), Andrei Mațco, acting head of the General Directorate of Criminal Prosecution within the National Anticorruption Centre (CNA), Eugen Rurac and Sergiu Russu, chief prosecutor of the Anti-Trafficking in Human Beings Section of the General Prosecutor’s Office, were admitted to the second stage of the pre-selection.

The special commission has scheduled the interview of the candidates for 1 February 2023, starting at 10 a.m., at the premises of the High Council of Prosecutors in bd. Stefan cel Mare și Sfânt, 73.

“The second stage, the interview, is conducted for the purpose of assessing managerial and professional competences appropriate to the position of chief prosecutor of the specialized prosecutor’s office, irreproachable reputation and whether there are no reasonable suspicions regarding the candidate for committing acts of corruption, acts related to them or corruptible acts within the meaning of the Integrity Law no. 82/2017,” the CSP’s statement reads.

During the interview, candidates will be interviewed in alphabetical order, answer questions and present the proposed management and institutional development concept.

The interviews will be recorded and placed on the official website of the High Council of Prosecutors, immediately after the last interview is concluded, the PSC notes.

Sergiu Russu is currently Chief Prosecutor of the Anti-Trafficking in Human Beings Section of the General Prosecutor’s Office. Sergiu Russu previously served as interim chief prosecutor of the PCCOCS from October 2021 to December 2022.

In 2009, Russu served as deputy prosecutor in the Dubasari Prosecutor’s Office, and in April 2015 – chief prosecutor in the same prosecutor’s office.

According to the statement of assets and personal interests for 2021, Sergiu Russu collected from the Prosecutor General’s Office a gross annual salary of about 363 thousand lei, i.e. about 30 thousand lei per month.

Eugen Rurac, a former anti-corruption prosecutor, is currently acting head of the General Directorate of Criminal Prosecution within the National Anti-Corruption Centre (CNA).

Rurac was hired at the Intelligence and Security Service in September 2021. He left the prosecutor’s office in January 2020, when he resigned without giving reasons.

Eugeniu Rurac handled several high-profile cases, including the case of Judge Ion Druță, who was the president of the CCSJ, the “Metalferos” case, in which damages of over 200 million lei were established. It was also Rurac who finally dropped the charge against the current president of the Constitutional Court, Domnica Manole, who was on trial for knowingly passing an illegal judgment. Eugeniu Rurac also handled the criminal case against former MP Chiril Lucinschi, convicted by the first instance in the bank fraud case.

In September 2022, ZdG wrote that Rurac was caught in several photos published in the press and Telegram channels driving a Mercedes S 400 4 Matic. Asked by ZdG at the time, Eugeniu Rurac said that the car did not belong to him, but to his brother, from whom he borrowed it for a month while his car was being repaired. Details here.

Lawyer Andrei Mațco previously held the position of deputy head of the Judicial and General Investigations Section in the Chisinau Prosecutor’s Office. He handled the Plugaru case.

On November 11, 2022, the PSC announced a competition to select a candidate for the position of chief prosecutor of the PCCOCS, with a deadline for submitting competition applications of January 10, 2023. In the next stage of the candidate pre-selection competition, a special committee established by the PSC will be responsible for two stages: the competition of the submitted files and the interview test.