UPDATE: The Superior Council of Prosecutors (CSP) confirms that at the meeting of the special pre-selection commission for candidates for the position of chief prosecutor of the Office of the Prosecutor for Combating Organised Crime and Special Cases (PCCOCS), three of the five members of the commission took note of Eugeniu Rurac’s request to withdraw from the competition.

According to the CSP, the Commission found it impossible to continue the competition for the position of Chief Prosecutor of the PCCOCS, in the context of the withdrawal of the five members from the Commission, and informed the remaining candidates of its decision.

“Today, February 1, 2023, the Special Commission for the pre-selection of candidates for the position of Chief Prosecutor of the Prosecutor’s Office for Combating Organized Crime and Special Cases was to interview the candidates entered in the competition,” the CSP announced.

Original news

Iulian Groza, executive director of the Institute for European Policies and Reforms (IPRE), proposed by President Maia Sandu to the pre-selection commission for the chief prosecutor of the Prosecutor’s Office for Combating Organised Crime and Special Cases (PCCOCS), announced his withdrawal from the commission, after four other members announced their resignation a short while ago. Thus, all members of the commission have withdrawn and now the Superior Council of Prosecutors (CSP) is expected to decide whether to create a new commission or suspend the competition.

Asked by Ziarul de Gardă, Iulian Groza said that after the meeting of the Superior Council of Prosecutors (CSP) on 31 January, he would have told the CSP apparatus that he planned to withdraw from the commission and that he would not attend the meeting on 1 February at which, according to Groza, three members of the commission approved Eugeniu Rurac’s request to withdraw from the competition.

“Yesterday, immediately after the CSP commission, I communicated with the members of the special commission and the CSP apparatus and mentioned that I will not attend the meeting planned for February 1. I said that I was planning to withdraw from this commission (…) Another member still said that he was planning to withdraw and did not want to participate further, this was on January 31. Today, 1 February, there was a meeting of this committee, a three-person committee. They had two items on the agenda. The first topic was Mr. Rurac’s request to withdraw from the competition. That request was considered and accepted. The second item was the request by Tudor Osoianu, Roman Eremciuc and Boris Poiată to withdraw from the committee. I was informed by the CSP apparatus that a meeting had been held and that three members had withdrawn and they also considered Ion Guceac’s withdrawal, and my request to withdraw was not considered because I said that I was only planning to withdraw. After I was informed that the meeting had taken place I said I was withdrawing,” said Iulian Groza.

In this context, Iulian Groza claims that the CSP “can create a new pre-selection committee or decide to suspend this competition”.

“All the members have withdrawn, i.e. the commission no longer exists. The decision is to be communicated to the CSP, which will take a further decision. If there is no pre-selection panel, the pre-selection competition cannot take place. So the CSP can either create a new pre-selection panel or decide to suspend this competition,” Groza added.

Four of the five members of the selection commission for the new head of the Prosecutor’s Office for Combating Organised Crime and Special Cases (PCCOCS) announced their withdrawal from the commission on Wednesday, 1 February 2023. They are Tudor Osoianu, proposed by the Ministry of Justice, and Ion Guceac, Boris Poiată and Roman Eremciuc, proposed by the Superior Council of Prosecutors (CSP).

On 31 January 2023, the CSP rejected Justice Minister Sergiu Litvinenco’s request to cancel the competition for the post of head of the PCCOCS.

The special pre-selection commission for candidates for the position 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 position of chief prosecutor of the PCCOCS “meet the eligibility criteria” and were promoted to the interview stage.

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 Anti-Corruption Centre (NAC), 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 committee has set the interview of the candidates for 1 February 2023, starting at 10 a.m., at the premises of the Superior Council of Prosecutors in bd. Stefan cel Mare și Sfânt, 73.

ALSO READ: Accusations in the process of appointing the head of the Prosecutor’s Office for Combating Organised Crime and Special Cases. A former deputy Prosecutor General wants to be appointed without a competition. A member of the candidate pre-selection committee is asking for the competition to be cancelled, while one of the candidates is asking for that member to be excluded