The Superior Council of Prosecutors (CSP) approved on Thursday, March 2, the decision on the termination of the competition for the position of chief prosecutor of the Prosecutor’s Office for Combating Organised Crime and Special Cases (PCCOCS). CSP President Angela Motuzoc noted that three members of the CSP had a separate opinion on the matter.

Council member Inga Furtună expressed their position that with two candidates left for the position of Chief Prosecutor of the PCCOCS, the competition should continue.

The special pre-selection commission found it impossible to continue the competition for the post of Chief Prosecutor of the PCCOCS.

On 1 February 2023, on the day when the Special Pre-selection Commission for the PCCOCS Chief Prosecutor was due to interview the candidates entered in the competition, Andrei Mațco, Eugen Rurac, Sergiu Russu, all members of the Commission announced their withdrawal from the Commission. They are Tudor Osoianu, proposed by the Ministry of Justice, Ion Guceac, Boris Poiată and Roman Eremciuc, proposed by the Superior Council of Prosecutors (CSP) and Iulian Groza, proposed by the President of the Republic of Moldova.

Prior to the announcement of their withdrawal from the Commission, three of the five members took note of Eugeniu Rurac’s request to withdraw from the competition.

The CSP announced on 1 February that the special pre-selection commission had found it impossible to continue the competition for the post 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.

On 31 January 2023, the CSP rejected the request of the then Minister of Justice Sergiu Litvinenco to cancel the competition for the post of head of the PCCOCS. The request was examined by the 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 decision of the CSP 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.

The 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.