Representatives of the Chisinau Court of Appeals published on Tuesday, January 27, the reasoned decision in the case of the annulment of the National Integrity Authority (ANI) finding of March 2022, issued in respect of the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ) judge Mariana Pitic (name changed: Mariana Ursachi, editor’s note), about whom ZdG previously wrote that she owned a Porsche Cayenne which she valued at just 11 thousand lei.

In its 43-page reasoned decision, the panel of judges made up of Veronica Negru, Ecaterina Palanciuc and Ina Dutca, assesses as “unfounded” ANI’s argument that the act of finding of 24 March 2022, issued in the name of the judge, “is legal and well-founded”.

ANI control, completed “after 859 days of initiation”

More specifically, the ANI integrity inspector established, almost two years ago, the violation of the legal regime of the declaration of wealth and personal interests by Mariana Pitic, manifested by the non-declaration of wealth in the proper manner in the period 2014-2019, including the inclusion of incomplete data on the real value of the Porsche Cayenne, “with the aim of unjustifiably lowering the real price of over 778 thousand lei”. At the same time, the inspector claimed that Pitic did not indicate in his asset declarations the value of a piece of land he owned, did not indicate the right of inhabitation of a building located in the suburbs of the capital and the right of loan of another car.

The ANI control of the judge was initiated on 15 November 2019, but was completed on 24 March 2022. The judges of the Chisinau Court of Appeal claim that the administrative control procedure against the judge was completed after 859 days from the initiation, and “any acts from which would result the extension of the term and the fulfilment of the condition of notification of the person subject to control to the documents of the case are not attested”.

“(…) Based on the material in the case file, the College finds that the defendant public authority has violated the time limit for the administrative procedure provided for by the Administrative Code, and the procedural violations cannot be held against the applicant, as this time limit must be reasonable, but the impossibility for an authority to carry out its activity in accordance with the law is not a reason to admit the violation of the law by this authority (…)”, says the reasoned decision of the Court of Appeal.

Chisinau Court of Appeal: The rights of the applicant to have a goods expert’s report carried out were not respected

At the same time, judges Veronica Negru, Ecaterina Palanciuc and Ina Dutca also justify their decision by the fact that “the integrity inspector did not respect the rights of the plaintiff (Mariana Pitic, editor’s note) to order and carry out the expert’s report (to determine the exact value of the Porsche Cayenne, editor’s note), improperly calling the judicial expert, and in the absence of communication of this action to the plaintiff, the latter was deprived of the possibility to realize the procedural rights related to this means of evidence, including the right to challenge the expert”.

“(…) In the same context, the College notes that the integrity inspector was to order, if he had decided to appoint the expert, that the expert’s report should also be carried out in respect of the car of model *****, but the applicant has alleged that the car of model ***** (Porsche Cayenne, no. red.) (a.f. 2012), was procured from financial sources from the sale of another car – “BMW X5″ and this circumstance was established by the CNI by act no. 02/282 of 14.07.2016 (…)”, the document adds.

Finally, the panel of judges notes “the lack of certain violations of the legal regime of the declaration of wealth and personal interests on the part of Mariana Pitic for the period described in the contested act of finding, manifested by the failure to properly declare wealth”.

“(…) By order of the Deputy Prosecutor in the Anti-Corruption Prosecution Office of 18 July 2023, the criminal proceedings were closed on the grounds that the act under investigation does not meet the elements of a criminal offence provided for in Article 330(2)(2) of the Criminal Code. Thus, according to the aforementioned order, it was found that the unjustified difference in the amount of 677 798, 87 lei was invoked on the fact of the value of the Porsche car, model Cayenne, acquired in property on September 13, 2014. And following the criminal prosecution of the case, in order to establish all the circumstances, objectively, completely and in all respects, it was found that in 2014, on account of the value of the Porsche Cayenne car, ***** transferred, in addition to the amount of 10,000 lei, also the ownership of the BMW X5 (…).

(…) The College notes that the circumstances set out above show that the actions / inactions of the integrity inspector in the administrative procedure, described above and evidenced by the documents in the file, fully prove the illegality of the Act of finding no. 140/18, or, they are in contradiction with the legal regulations mentioned above (…)”, the document also states.

On 30 October 2023, the Chisinau Court of Appeal annulled the ANI’s act of finding of 24 March 2022, issued against Judge Mariana Pitic. The operative part of the decision states that the decision could be appealed to the SCJ within two months. Requested by ZdG, representatives of the Authority said that the decision was appealed to the SCJ.

In March 2016, ZdG wrote that Mariana Pitic, then proposed by the Superior Council of Magistracy (SCM) for the position of magistrate at the SCJ, did not indicate, in some statements on income and property, the wealth of her husband, a businessman, who owned, including, a luxury property in a suburb of Chisinau. Later, referring to the statements on income and property for 2014 and 2015, made public by the SCM, we mentioned that Pitic valued his luxury car, a Porsche Cayenne, at only 11 thousand lei, while such a car cost, at market price, several tens of times more. The National Integrity Commission (now ANI, editor’s note) checked Pitic’s wealth after being notified by the National Anti-Corruption Centre, which complained that the judge had not declared an apartment. Subsequently, the CNI was also notified by an individual that the judge had not declared income from the sale of a car.

Shortly afterwards, the CNI closed the case on the grounds of lack of intentional infringement. About the luxury Porsche, bought for only 11 thousand lei, Mariana Pitic told the CNI members that “the right to negotiate civil contracts is a fundamental right in contract law”. On 15 November 2019, the ANI initiated a new control on the magistrate, which was completed on 24 March 2022.