Lawyer Serghei Perju, one of the two candidates for the post of prosecutor general who were excluded from the competition for submitting an incomplete file, has challenged the decision of the Supreme Prosecutorial Council (SCP) at the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ).

Perju is asking the SCJ to suspend the execution of the decision of 5 February on the examination of the candidates’ files in the competition for the post of Prosecutor General adopted by the Supreme Prosecutors’ Council, until the final settlement of the action challenging the decision, as well as to allow the appeal and partially annul the decision regarding his exclusion from the public competition.

According to the decision of the SCP, in the case of lawyer Serghei Perju, the Council noted the deliberate failure to submit the reference of the last place of employment, (paragraph 10 letter h) of the Regulation), making the remark “not applicable”. At the same time, the SCP noted that the candidate completed the file with a certificate, “including information on disciplinary record, issued by the Bucharest Bar Association and submitted after the deadline”.

The lawyer claims before the court that he included in his application documents attesting to his professional experience:

• License to practice as a lawyer issued by the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Moldova (according to the Decision of the Licensing Commission no. 26/12.12.2017);
• Decision No 547/19.01.2004 issued by the Bucharest Bar Association on Sergei Perju’s entry to the profession of lawyer (trainee) at the Bucharest Bar Association (Romania);
• Decision No 2015/20.06.2005 issued by the Bucharest Bar Association on Perju’s admission to the Bucharest Bar Association;
• identity card issued by the Bucharest Bar Association certifying his status as a lawyer and the date of his entry (2004) and his establishment (2005) as a member of the Bucharest Bar Association;

“With regard to the ‘reference from the last place of employment’, I indicated in the application that it was not necessary to submit such a document. I took into account, as I will develop below, the fact that I am a lawyer and I practice this profession within a specific form of organization according to the applicable legislation – professional civil society, being even its coordinating lawyer, in which capacity, for the issuance of the reference from the place of work, I would have been put in the position of making my own recommendation”, argued Perju.

It was also requested that all the candidates entered in the competition be brought into the case.

ZdG found, from public information available on the CSJ website, that the other candidate excluded from the competition, Ilie Rotaru, did not contest the CSP’s decision. Rotaru did not respond to ZdG’s calls.

Regarding the exclusion of Rotaru, the Council noted that it refers to the information held on the portal of the courts, according to which in 2017, the Chisinau Court found Ilie Rotaru guilty of committing offences under the Criminal Code – making up, possession, sale or use of official documents, false prints, stamps or seals and fraud, upheld by the decision of the Criminal College of the Chisinau Court of Appeal in 2019, which “denotes that the candidate did not meet the condition prescribed in Art. 20 paragraph (1) letter g) of Law no. 3/2016”. He had been sentenced to 9 years imprisonment in a closed prison. In 2021, the SCJ overturned the decision of the court of appeal and ordered a retrial of the case. The criminal case is still being examined at the Chisinau Court of Appeal.

At the same time, the SCP established that the candidate Ilie Rotaru did not meet the general condition prescribed in the special rule – the possession of the appropriate age (up to 65 years), which includes the right to exercise the right to work as a prosecutor, as he is almost 70 years old.

Lawyers Ilie Rotaru and Serghei Perju were excluded from the competition for the post of Prosecutor General following a decision by the members of the SCP, meeting on Monday 5 February. Four candidates will be admitted to the interview.

The files of the six candidates for the post of Prosecutor General were examined for eligibility in a closed session, as required by law. Finally, the SCP members decided to admit to the next stage the interim Prosecutor General Ion Munteanu, the interim Deputy Prosecutor General Igor Demciucin, the Prosecutor Octavian Iachimovschi and the lawyer Andrei Coca.

Ilie Rotaru was expelled from the competition on the grounds of “failure to meet the conditions for participation in the competition”. The second candidate, Serghei Perju, submitted an incomplete application, according to CSP President Dumitru Obadă.

On 22 February, at 9:00, the interview will take place in the meeting room of the SCP.