The special panel for examining appeals against the decisions of the Pre-Vetting Commission of the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) rejected on Tuesday 28 February the appeal filed by Judge Natalia Clevadi, who did not pass the ethical and financial integrity assessment.

According to the law, the decision of the special panel of the Supreme Court of Justice is irrevocable from the moment it is issued. The decision is deemed to be issued from the moment it is placed on the official website of the Supreme Court of Justice and is notified to the participants within 5 days from the date of issue.

“(…) Instead of replying to the Commission’s questions, the candidate sent a letter by electronic mail, in which she indicated that she had sent to the Commission’s address all the documents, contracts and cheques in her possession and that she did not have any other documents. She also requested that her application be assessed in her absence on the basis of the documents submitted so far. She indicated that she has full confidence in the Commission and will not contest the Commission’s decision.

The special panel considers that the applicant’s argument that there can be no doubts as to her income and property is unfounded, and that the doubts found by the Commission have not been removed,” the CSJ decision states.

The pre-vetting commission announced on Friday, February 3, the result of the evaluation of Natalia Clevadî, a judge at the Buiucani court of Chisinau. According to the Commission’s decision, the candidate for the position of member of the Superior Council of Magistracy (CSM) did not pass the evaluation. Natalia Clevadî was the only candidate who requested to be evaluated without taking part in the public interview.

In its reasoned decision, the Commission stated that it had established:

• Wealth imbalance for 2016;
• non-compliance with reference to the deposit of EUR 38 000 in the candidate’s bank account in 2011;
• undervaluation and non-payment of tax on the capital increase following the sale of an apartment;

The Commission decided that the magistrate did not meet the integrity criteria as serious doubts were found regarding Natalia Clevadi’s compliance with the criteria of ethical and financial integrity and she did not pass the assessment.

The CSJ rejected on Monday, 6 February, the request of magistrate Anatolie Turcan to challenge the Commission’s decision.

Natalia Clevadî: Lost case at the ECtHR and accusations of following Plahotniuc’s orders

Natalia Clevadî has been working in the judiciary since 2011. She started her career at the Balti Court, and in January 2015 she was transferred to the Court of sect. Riscani, mun. Chisinau, at the request of the then president of the court, Oleg Melniciuc. She is currently working at the Chisinau Court, Buiucani seat.

Four months after his transfer, Clevadi was given the right to buy an apartment in a block for court employees at a preferential price. Melniciuc then argued that the magistrate “has been working as a judge for more than four years and is not assured of a place to live in Chisinau”. After having purchased the apartment at a preferential price, Clevadi sold the property at market price. In 2017, ZdG found out that this is the daughter of former CSJ judge Valentina Clevadî. The judge’s mother was part of the panel of judges of the CSJ that put an end to the case of magistrate Stanislav Sorbalo, upholding the CSM’s 2010 decision dismissing him. 10 years later, however, the judge found justice at the ECtHR.

A decision of the panel in which Judge Clevadî sat was under review at the ECtHR. She was part of a three-judge panel that examined at first instance the “Petrenco group” case, in which in September 2019 the ECtHR found violations of several articles of the Convention and ordered Moldova to pay €68,000 in damages to the applicants, members of the group. After the conviction at the ECtHR, Natalia Clevadî’s name appeared in a petition by the “Petrenco group”, which called for the “lustration” of those responsible for the fabrication of the file, accused of following Vladimir Plahotniuc’s orders.

In December 2021, a referral was submitted to the CSM for the disciplinary liability of the magistrate. The complaint was rejected as unfounded.

In her declaration of assets and interests for 2021, Natalia Clevadi declared the apartment she bought in 2018 at a preferential price and another apartment with an area of 44 square meters, with the right of residence. Clevadî holds shares worth 6 lei in Agro Petrol SA and Tirex Petrol SA, which at the end of 2019 came under the management of “Estcon Construct” SRL from Ialoveni for about 10 million euros and is connected to Artiom Pînzari, the son-in-law of former Defense Minister Alexandru Pînzari. In 2021, the magistrate had salary income of about 250 thousand lei. Another 43 thousand lei came from renting an apartment.