The annulment of the parliamentary immunity of one of the leaders of the ruling alliance and his arrest for 30 days on charges of passive corruption and influence peddling represent a premiere for Moldova. This thing could lead to the dismemberment of the ruling alliance and to early elections. At the same time, the members of the alliance consider early elections will not take place and hope that the Lib-Dems will show political maturity so that the parliamentary majority is kept. The recent events related to the withdrawal of Vlad Filat’s parliamentary immunity and his arrest were discussed in the public debate “Professionalism of law enforcement bodies, behavior of the political class and protesters in the case of annulment of immunity and arrest of MP Vlad Filat, the leader of the PLDM”, staged by IPN News Agency in partnership with Radio Moldova.
Lawyer Ion Dron, who heads the Center for Initiatives and Public Authorities Monitoring, said that we have seen a high-ranking official being charged for the first time since gaining independence. “It is a premier. As a citizen, I welcome the fact that the authorities shifted from the slogans related to the ‘fight against corruption’ to concrete actions as corruption has a name. But the law enforcement institutions show reflexes by order. Things will be clarified over the next few months. If the cases are not sent to court, we will remain with the impression that the institutions show reflexes by order,” he stated.
Socialist MP Vlad Batrancea said he reached the conclusion that those who protest should be united and should exert pressure on the government. “It’s good that the people forced the government to sacrifice at least something. Filat fell into the trap of his own greediness and interests and should be punished. If at least one fifth of what was said is proven, it would be a plausible reason to sentence him to many years in jail. The PLDM is falling apart. More members of this party will be held accountable over the next few days. The AEI no longer exists and we will witness a re-formation. Even if our justice is controlled and selective, we saw that it works when it wants,” he stated.
Democratic MP Sergiu Sarbu said it is regrettable that a colleague from the government was accused of so serious offenses. “We want the judiciary to do its duty and the persons to blame to be held accountable, while the innocent ones to be acquitted. The administration should work further based on the Government’s program. There is no other way out,” stated the lawmaker.
Igor Botan, executive director of the Association for Participatory Democracy (ADEPT) and the permanent expert of the IPN project, said the current government is illegitimate because it lied to the people in the election campaign. “We now found out how the campaigns and parties are financed. We can ask ourselves how the PDM is financed too. It could also pay analysts and bloggers. We know that the PL, and the PCRM, and the PSRM probably too, have the same problems. The ruling partners have no confidence in each other. It is interesting how the ruling alliance will adopt the budgetary-fiscal policy for next year without a majority of votes. What should the businessmen and the development partners think? How will the head of state be elected? I’m yet glad that this abscess burst, but many more should have been touched as all the politicians have something to hide,” he stated.
The debate “Professionalism of law enforcement bodies, behavior of the political class and protesters in the case of annulment of immunity and arrest of MP Vlad Filat, the leader of the PLDM” is the 42nd installment of the series of debates “Developing political culture by public debates” that are held with the support of the German foundation Hanns Seidel. Representatives of the Liberal-Democratic parliamentary group were also invited to the debate.
