UPDATE 15:15 Members of the CSP also rejected the preliminary requests submitted by Eduard Bulat and Eugeniu Rurac for the suspension and annulment of the competition, as well as the annulment of the decision of the CSP to set up the Commission for the selection of the candidate, as inadmissible. According to Commission President Angela Motuzoc, the two must go to court.

Original article:

Justice Minister Sergiu Litvinenco’s request to the Superior Council of Prosecutors (CSP) to cancel the competition for the position of chief prosecutor of the Office of the Prosecutor for Combating Organised Crime and Special Cases (PCCOCS) has been rejected.

The Superior Council of Prosecutors convened for an extraordinary meeting on Tuesday 31 January after several failures to hold the meeting. The supplementary agenda included the request by Minister Sergiu Litvinenco to cancel the competition initiated by the CSP on 10 October to select the candidate for the position of chief prosecutor of the PCCOCS. The request was examined by CSP members at the beginning of the meeting, on the minister’s proposal, because it would “encompass” the rest of the requests on the agenda.

The agenda included four items, including: the request submitted by Eduard Bulat for the suspension and cancellation of the competition for the selection of the candidate for the position of Chief Prosecutor of the PCCOCS, the request submitted by Eugeniu Rurac for the cancellation of the CSP decision on the establishment of the Commission for the selection of the candidate for the position of Chief Prosecutor of the PCCOCS and the complaint of Iulian Groza, member of the Special Commission for the pre-selection of candidates for the position of Chief Prosecutor of the PCCOCS.

According to Litvinenco, “it would be best if the competition is resumed when there is a composition of the CSP passed through the pre-vetting procedure”.

“I regret that it has come to this. The situation surrounding this competition tarnishes the image of the institutions. As long as there is no trust of the citizens, it cannot go ahead. My option is that tomorrow (31 January 2023 – ed.) we consider cancelling this competition and restarting the competition after we have a CSP that has gone through the pre-vetting procedure. According to the Commission’s calendar, this would happen at the end of April, beginning of May, and the evaluation process of the candidates registered in the CSP race would be completed (…) It would be best to resume the competition when there is a CSP composition passed through the pre-vetting procedure”, the former Minister of Justice Sergiu Litvinenco said during a broadcast on Pro TV.

As for prosecutor Eduard Bulat’s request for his appointment as chief prosecutor of the PCCOCS without a competition, the justice minister says he “cannot claim the position”.

“In my view he does not have this right. The law says that a deputy prosecutor-general, when his term of office ends, can choose any other vacant prosecutorial position. The position of chief prosecutor of the PCCOCS is obtained on the basis of a separate procedure. In my view, (Eduard Bulat – ed.) cannot claim the position,” Minister Sergiu Litvinenco added.

Several public figures have called for the annulment of the competition for the post of head of the PCCOCS. Each had their reasons. On 23 January 2023, prosecutor Eduard Bulat, who was one of the deputies of former acting Prosecutor General Dumitru Robu, asked for the annulment of the 18 January response of acting Prosecutor General Ion Munteanu on the refusal to appoint him 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, said on 26 January that “this competition is flawed and the integrity and credibility of the selection process and the results of the competition are seriously affected”. Groza believes that the competition should be cancelled.

Iulian Groza’s 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.

• ALSO READ: Accusations in the process of appointing the head of the PCCOCS. A former deputy attorney 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

This was followed by the reaction of Justice Minister Sergiu Litvinenco, who said that “legal solutions must be found to cancel or suspend” the competition to fill the post of head of the PCCOCS, so that a repeat competition could be launched later.

“In relation to the competition for the post of head of the PCCOCS initiated by the CSP in November 2022 and taking into account all the situation created involving a lack of credibility and the imminent risk of bias, I believe that legal solutions must be identified for its cancellation or suspension. The competition is to be repeated or, if necessary, resumed when there is a CSP with a plenipotentiary mandate, i.e. after the completion of the prevetting exercise,” the minister wrote on social media.

In this context, members of the Supreme Council of Prosecutors (CSP) said that the position of the Minister of Justice, Sergiu Litvinenco “results in several conclusions lacking factual support and legal content”, but which “include aspects that cast a negative light on the work of the CSP”. According to the CSP, “the suspension of the competition for the selection of the candidate for the position of chief prosecutor of the PCCOCS is to be decided according to the law, but not on social media”.