The Prosecutor General, Alexandr Stoianoglo, was suspended, announced the Minister of Justice, Sergiu Litvinenco, who claims that he was informed that the anti-corruption prosecutor, Victor Furtună, appointed to examine the complaint of the Action and Solidarity Party deputy Lilian Carp, decided to initiate criminal proceedings against Alexandr Stoianoglo.

According to the Minister of Justice, together with the decision of the anti-corruption prosecutor to initiate criminal proceedings against Alexandr Stoianoglo, by the effect of the law on the Prosecutor’s Office, the Deputy Prosecutor General – Ruslan Popov, Mircea Roșioru, and Iurie Perevoznic are also suspended.

“A few minutes ago I was informed that the prosecutor appointed today by the Superior Council of Prosecutors to investigate Lilian Carp’s notification decided to start the criminal investigation against the General Prosecutor, Alexandr Stoianoglo. The mandate of the Prosecutor General was suspended and the deputies of the General Prosecutor were suspended too according to the law. Therefore, now we do not have a leadership of the prosecutor’s office. Although the law stipulates that the Superior Council of Prosecutors meets within 5 days in such a situation, I consider that it is necessary to convene an extraordinary meeting today to select and propose an interim Prosecutor General to the President of the country,” said the Minister of Justice, Sergiu Litvinenco.

The Superior Council of Prosecutors examined and approved today, October 5, in an extraordinary meeting, the notification submitted by the deputy of the Action and Solidarity Party Lilian Carp against the prosecutor general. On October 1, Lilian Carp filed a complaint with the Superior Council of Prosecutors against the Prosecutor General. In the complaint, Lilian Carp accused Stoianoglo, during his time as a deputy in Parliament “would have signed several documents related to the Russian Laundromat case.” The Prosecutor General rejected all charges against him.

“I denounce Stoianoglo’s actions, which may constitute a crime:

One: Modification of the legal framework that facilitated the implementation of the money laundering scheme in particularly large proportions. So, in the process of analyzing the legal framework modified in the period 2010 – 2014, in order to facilitate money laundering in Moldova, a unique phrase consisting of 3 words was established, namely the phrase “having a suspensive effect”. It was introduced as an amendment to Law 190 of 2007 on preventing and combating money laundering and terrorist financing, which is still in force. This phrase allowed the representatives of non-resident companies, whose accounts were blocked by the decisions of the Money Laundering Prevention and Combating Service, to unblock the accounts, to transfer the money only by presenting to the bank the appeal on the decision to suspend financial operations,” stated Lilian Carp.

On 24 August, Parliament voted on the draft amendment to the Law on the Prosecutor’s Office, initiated by Action and Solidarity Party deputies. The performances of the Prosecutor General are to be evaluated by a special commission, which will be set up at the notification of the President of the country or at least 3 members of the Superior Council of Prosecutors, and if after evaluation the head of the General Prosecutor’s Office obtains the grade of “unsatisfactory”, the Superior Council of Prosecutors will propose to the President of Moldova the dismissal of the Prosecutor General. It is the main change made to the Law on the Prosecutor’s Office.

Meanwhile, the General Prosecutor’s Office gave a negative opinion to the amendments to the Prosecutor’s Office Law, and on August 23 this year announced that the institution “addressed international structures with a call to analyze the compatibility of legislative changes proposed by the Parliament of with the European standards.”

Anti-corruption prosecutor Victor Furtună, who ordered the criminal investigation against Stoianoglo, came with the officers of the Intelligence and Security Service to the General Prosecutor’s Office.