The head of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (PA), Veronica Dragalin, announces that the institution she heads has launched a criminal case on the competition for the position of prosecutor general, which was cancelled on February 28. The statement was made in a Facebook Live.

The head of the PA said that she herself would handle the investigation and that she would not appoint a subordinate, describing the case as “sensitive”. Dragalin warned that people who would try to influence the criminal process could be held responsible.

“(…) The anti-corruption prosecutor’s office has investigated itself. A report has been registered setting out the circumstances detected and its registration, but also the initiation of criminal proceedings will allow us to examine the circumstances of this contest and adopt some solutions (…). This is not a criminal case, but an initial phase of investigation. At this stage, the law allows us to use certain tools, for example we can collect relevant documents and papers, we can hear witnesses in order to reach a solution (…). I have decided to undertake this investigation (…).

If anyone has relevant information for the examination of this criminal case, please, send the information in written form to the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, by mail or e-mail. If you have sensitive information that you do not want to pass through the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s office, please enclose it in an envelope marked “Confidential for Veronica Dragalin”. I can assure you that these envelopes will not be unsealed in the registry, but will reach me on my desk (…).

I want to warn you all about criminal liability for interfering with prosecutions, for false statements by witnesses who are heard in a criminal trial, for influencing witnesses to give false statements, for tampering with evidence and other offences punishable by imprisonment. I will attend the hearing of witnesses and examine every document. The solution on this criminal case must be adopted within 45 days, that is what the law provides. I very much hope that we will be able to gather all the relevant information in a shorter time so that a correct and legal solution can be adopted. I take it upon myself to publish the adopted decision, even if this is out of the ordinary. The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office does not publish this kind of documents in the file, but in this situation I think we understand that we are facing extraordinary circumstances (…)”, said Veronica Dragalin.

The SCP revoked the decision of 22 February on the results of the interview test in the competition for the selection of the candidate for the post of Prosecutor General, “in connection with the facts that have subsequently occurred and in order not to endanger the public interest”. Thus, the competition was terminated, “with the subsequent initiation of a new competition”.

SCP President Dumitru Obadă said that SCP members worked for 11 hours on 22 February, when the interviews took place, with breaks of a few minutes.

“At the end of this exercise we withdrew in deliberation, the technical averaging of the score given by each member of the SCP took place. At that stage, the scores awarded by each member of the SCP per assessment criterion for each of the 4 candidates were not examined. None of the sheets that were completed on the evening of that day were debated or analysed from the point of view of the score offered.

(…) There was a major discrepancy that was not covered from the perspective of the argument, why one of the candidates was disqualified. This circumstance is extremely important by virtue of the priorities of the mandate that each of us assumed when we took office: to conduct a public, transparent competition based on the principles of meritocracy (…).

The Council unanimously decided to tip the balance in the public interest.

(…) This is why we have taken the responsibility to put an end to the competition today, to rethink the mechanisms, including the regulations governing this exercise”, explained Obadă.

The SCP published the evaluation sheets of the candidates for the position of Prosecutor General: Ion Munteanu received a score of 3.5 from one of the Council members

In the context of the applications submitted by the candidates for the position of Prosecutor General, Ion Munteanu, Igor Demciucin and Octavian Iachimovsci, the SCP decided at its meeting on 28 February to publish the total score per candidate’s score sheet. This represents the arithmetic average of the scores awarded for each criterion by each member of the Council who assessed the candidate.

From the results published by the SCP, acting Prosecutor General Ion Munteanu received his lowest score of 3.5 from SCP member Olesea Vîrlan and the highest – from SCP President Dumitru Obadă, 9.5.

Igor Demciucin received the lowest score from CSP member Elena Rosioru – 7.8. Olesea Virlan gave Demciucin the highest score – 9.3.

Octavian Iachimovschi, who was selected by the SCP to be evaluated by the Vetting Commission and submitted to the President for appointment, was rated by four of the nine members with a score of 9 and above.

Interim President of the Superior Council of Magistracy Sergiu Caraman and SCP member Andrei Cebotari gave the highest score to Iachimovschi and the lowest to Andrei Coca.

Most members of the SCP, including Justice Minister Veronica Mihailov-Moraru, SCP President Dumitru Obada and members Eduard Panea, Elena Rosior and Svetalana Balmuș gave the most points to Ion Munteanu and the fewest to Andrei Coca.

CSP member Rodica Ciobanu gave Iachimovschi and Munteanu the same score – 9.16.