Several people are calling for the annulment of the competition to fill the post of head of the Prosecutor’s Office for Combating Organised Crime and Special Cases (PCCOCS). Each has their reasons. For example, prosecutor Eduard Bulat, who was one of the deputies of former acting Prosecutor General Dumitru Robu, is asking to be appointed as chief prosecutor of the PCCOCS without a competition.

At the same time, Iulian Groza, who is a member of the special pre-selection commission for candidates for the post of head of the PCCOCS, announced that he had referred to the Superior Council of Prosecutors (CSP) some “attempts by some interested persons to exert intimidation and pressure on him”.

His announcement came a few days after one of the candidates for the head of the institution, Eugen Rurac, sent a request to the Council asking for Groza’s exclusion from the Commission.

Bulat wants to be head of PCCOCS without competition

According to a 23 January pre-application to Acting Prosecutor General Ion Munteanu, Eduard Bulat requested the annulment of Munteanu’s 18 January response to his refusal to appoint him as PCCOCS chief prosecutor without a competition.

In addition, he also requested the annulment of the order signed by the acting Prosecutor General ordering the termination of his employment.

“The solution adopted by the interim head of the General Prosecutor’s Office, by the reply of 18.01.2023, is contrary to the legal provisions and the state of facts that characterizes the case and does not withstand any criticism, being prejudicial to my fundamental rights to work and property, because as a consequence of this erroneous solution and contrary to the law, by the order of the interim General Prosecutor of 18.01.2023, the termination with me of the service relations was ordered as of the same date.

The refusal of the interim head of the General Prosecutor’s Office to implement a legal rule, which guarantees me the right to choose any vacant position of prosecutor and to continue working in a position similar to that of Deputy General Prosecutor at will, contravenes constitutional postulates and is discriminatory, and analysed in conjunction with several statements of persons appearing in criminal files, as well as certain information appearing in media sources about the desire to remove me from the position of Deputy Prosecutor General and even from the Prosecutor’s Office, leads to the conclusion that such treatment in the administrative procedures is intended to create obstacles for me to occupy leading positions in the Prosecutor’s Office”, says Eduard Bulat.

“I consider that this competition should be cancelled”

On Thursday, January 26, the executive director of the Institute for European Policies and Reforms (IPRE), Iulian Groza, proposed by President Maia Sandu in the composition of the Special Commission for the pre-selection of candidates for the position of chief prosecutor of the PCCOCS, said “that this competition is flawed, and the integrity and credibility of the selection process and the results of the competition are seriously affected”. Thus, Groza believes that this competition should be cancelled.

“Over the past few days, after the first meeting of the Special Commission that took place on Monday, 23 January 2023, I inform you that I have reported several actions carried out through intermediaries, including through associated anonymous Telegram accounts, with the aim of intimidating me and exerting pressure on me, as a member of the Special Commission, in order to influence the pre-selection process of candidates for the position of prosecutor – chief of the Office of the Prosecutor for Combating Organized Crime and Special Cases,” the IPRE executive director wrote on social media.

Groza’s announcement came two days after Eugeniu Rurac, a former anti-corruption prosecutor and one of the candidates for the position of head of the PCCOCS, requested the suspension of the competition until a new pre-selection commission is set up, which does not include Iulian Groza.

“Mr. Iulian Groza has neither the necessary experience nor the conditions required by the normative acts to be part of the selection commission for the position of chief prosecutor of the Office of the Prosecutor for Combating Organized Crime and Special Cases, and this fact leads to the nullity of the decision of the CSP by which he was appointed member of that commission. I consider it appropriate to annul it and suspend the competition”, Rurac states in the request of 23 January.

Contacted by ZdG, CSP Chair Angela Motuzoc said that the applications of Eduard Bulat and Eugeniu Rurac were supposed to be examined by the members of the Commission at the meeting of Wednesday, 26 January, which did not take place due to lack of quorum.

The Chair of the CSP also said that the three requests would be included in the agenda of the next meeting, which has not yet been announced.

The special pre-selection committee for the candidates for the post of chief prosecutor of the PCCOCS, which met in closed session on Monday 23 January to examine the candidates’ files in the light of the eligibility criteria, decided that the three candidates for the post 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.