The executive director of ADEPT Association for Participatory Democracy, Igor Botan, who was part of the candidates' pre-selection commission for the position of prosecutor general, claims that he is fully satisfied with the way the commission worked, despite the criticism launched in the society after the announcement of the four candidates who passed the next stage of the competition. According to him, the commission was united and there were no misunderstandings and dissatisfaction between its members. However, one of the candidates for this position, expert Stefan Gligor, is of the opinion that the competition was not well enough organized and that the procedure for examining and pre-selecting the candidates was rather superficial, IPN reports.
"The Commission was united, there were no disagreements between the members of the commission. All the members of the commission carried out their activity in strict compliance with the regulation and the legislation, "declared Igor Botan on " Politics of Natalia Morari " program, TV8.
According to him, the candidates were evaluated according to a scoring grid. Each nomination was voted on by the committee and could pass to the next stage, provided that it gained at least four of the six votes of the members of the commission. “No one asked for the commission to be challenged. So, it is assumed that the candidates trusted the members of the commission. People in the commission cooperated in an amicable manner,” said Igor Boțan. According to him, the fact that the activity of this commission is criticized shows that it was independent and was not influenced.
Responding to the criticism that emerged in the public space after announcing the four candidates who passed to the next stage, Igor Botan replies that these are the rules of the competition and of the effective legislation. According to him, the commission could not judge based on assumptions and reckonings regarding the activity of some candidates, without having the decisions of the courts.
Expert Stefan Gligor, candidate for the position of prosecutor, who was not admitted to the next stage of the contest, believes that the procedure for examining and pre-selecting the candidates was a rather superficial one and that it was organized with some general logical errors. "The first thing necessary for having honest candidates in a competition, is the credibility of the commission and reasonable time given for filing one’s dossier. This means that first you must set up the commission and then it must declare the beginning of the pre-selection competition and application submittal, establishing a deadline. This initial stage went wrong. The competition was launched first, while the composition of the commission was announced subsequently”, declared the candidate. In his opinion, this is the first mistake of the Ministry of Justice that organized the candidates’ pre-selection stage.
Stefan Gligor wonders why people whose property declarations contain obviously false information have been admitted to the next stage. In this regard, the candidate is of the opinion that the Government should intervene and postpone the results of the contest.
After the interview stage, which was held in the course of two days, the Ministry of Justice announced that four of the 16 candidates who passed the first stage of the contest, got through to the final of the competition for the position of Prosecutor General. The "short list" of the candidates is composed of Oleg Crîșmaru, Vladislav Gribincea, Veaceslav Soltan and Alexandr Stoianoglo. Yesterday evening, Prime Minister Maia Sandu asked the pre-selection commission to urgently check the information published in the press and to consider the possibility of re-evaluating the short list "in the context of new information coming to light as to the integrity of a candidate from the contest shortlist ".
According to the legislation, the Superior Council of Prosecutors shall select a single candidate from the "short list" to be put forward for the approval of the country’s President.
