The list of the seven candidates’ names for the position of Prosecutor General of the Republic of Moldova leaves many question marks regarding the future of the Prosecutor General’s Office, as well as of the justice system as a whole.

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It has been repeatedly emphasized that a well-trained European prosecutor, someone who has experience dismantling corruption schemes, should be invited to Moldova – the poorest and the most corrupt state in Europe. What we have instead is a list of persons who do not even doubt that they can and should occupy the position of Prosecutor General. They are probably sure they can handle the job better than any outside prosecutor, who was supposed to clean up this state of corruption.

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All the candidates for the position of Prosecutor General, except one, have been employed in the Prosecutor’s Office structures many years in a row. There’s one detail worth noticing, six of the seven candidates submitted their application on the last day of the competition. Naturally, the question arises: what kind of contest will this be?

So far, it is important to know whether the seven candidates, six of whom are presently employed in the prosecutor’s offices, have, as prosecutors, succeeded in avoiding political orders. It is good to know if they have succeeded in rejecting bribery attempts and if they have built their palaces, bought expensive limousines and enjoyed luxurious holidays on their prosecutor’s salaries.

Actually, the contest for the position, which became vacant after former Prosecutor General Eduard Harunjen left on July 11, cannot be genuine since several of the candidates featured in journalistic investigations published in recent years.

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Just a few facts. Some of them, although they had comfortable houses or flats, bought apartments in a building intended specifically for prosecutors at a discounted price (up to 400 euros per square meter), benefiting from state subsidies. Soon afterward, they sold those apartments, without any hesitation, at market prices. Today, former migrants, who had worked days and nights to collect money for a home, live in those apartments, having bought them at almost double the price.

Some guild representatives filed criminal cases on-demand or tried to sue for lack of evidence. Other candidates were identified by the media in investigations targeting illegal telephone interceptions and leaks, which had been made in the interests of some politicians. Others were even suspended from office because criminal cases were initiated against them. Some have not declared their millions in property, as they’re supposed to in their declaration of income and assets.

There are also some of those who facilitated the escape from Moldova of some offenders investigated in criminal cases regarding pedophilia and human trafficking, under the pretext that “the parties have reconciled.” 

As is the guild, so are the candidates. This argument should be of the most value for the new government in power. This is the main reason they should continue to insist on the idea of hiring a prosecutor (maybe several) from abroad. Let people come who do not have godparents or godchildren in Moldova, who do not have to protect illegal businesses here, who are not acquainted with our politicians, who have not imprisoned innocent people, who have not sold evidence and arguments from cases and who have a clean conscience.

Aneta Grosu, aneta@zdg.md