Former magistrate Liliana Andriaș, investigated in 2016 for complicity in money laundering in the “Laundromat” case, could return to the system. Magistrates of the Chisinau Court of Appeal have annulled the 2014 decision of the Superior Council of Magistracy (CSM), which rejected Andriaș’ request to be repeatedly proposed to the President of Moldova for appointment by transfer to the Chisinau Court of Appeals and the proposal of the President of Moldova regarding her dismissal from her position as a judge.

A decision to this effect was pronounced on Monday, 6 March, by the Complex specialized in examining administrative disputes of the Civil, Commercial and Administrative Disputes College of the Chisinau Court of Appeal, composed of judges – Anatolie Minciuna, Ecaterina Palanciuc and Veronica Negru.

Liliana Andriaș worked as a magistrate of the Commercial District Court, abolished in 2017. She left the judiciary in January 2014 and has been practicing law since 2015.

Also by the decision adopted, the magistrates of the Court of Appeal ordered the CSM to restore Liliana Andriaș to the position she held until the adoption of the 2014 decision, by which she was dismissed from office, with “all the rights and guarantees provided by law”.

“It is found that Liliana Andriaș’s rights guaranteed by Article 8 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms have been violated.

The Superior Council of Magistracy is ordered to issue a decision admitting Judge Liliana Andriaș’s repeated request for transfer and to repeatedly propose to the President of the Republic of Moldova the candidacy of Judge Liliana Andriaș for appointment, by transfer, to the post of judge of the Commercial District Court of Chisinau.

The decision is enforceable from the moment of its issuance, but can be appealed to the Supreme Court of Justice within 30 days from the delivery of the decision, through the Chisinau Court of Appeals,” the court decision reads.

On 22 and 23 September 2016, 16 magistrates received arrest warrants for 30 days in the case of the laundering of approximately USD 20 billion. Initially, 17 judges were included in the case, two of whom died and the third managed to leave Moldova. The other 14 cases were sent to trial in early February 2017.

At least five of the judges targeted in the “Laundromat” case have been suspended. However, most of them had previously left the judiciary honourably. In March 2016, Ion Gancear, who signed an order in June 2013 targeting $710 million, died. Shortly after his detention in this case, Judge Iurie Turcan, who issued a similar order for $700 million, also died. As a result, the case against him was closed. Another judge targeted in the prosecutors’ investigation, Victor Orândaș, whom the CSM agreed to investigate, managed to leave Moldova.

In October 2020, five judges targeted in the “Laundromat” case officially returned to their posts, with CSM members accepting their requests for reinstatement to the positions they held until September 2016, when they were detained and suspended. Their return to office was possible because in September 2020, anti-corruption prosecutors issued orders ordering their removal from prosecution on charges of complicity in money laundering, on the grounds that the act did not meet the elements of the crime.