Prosecutor Heneral Corneliu Gurin described his relations with the leader of the PLDM Vlad Filat and the leader of the PDM Marian Lupu as well as the political performance of the two as good. The assessments were made in the context of the role played by the two in the process of appointing him as prosecutor general and their possible role in his rumored dismissal. Corneliu Gurin made such statements in the IPN interview “Prosecution service can and should be reformed in people’s and society’s interests” that was published on April 29, 2013.
“I’ve known Mister Filat since early youth, when we were students at the Law Faculty of the Iasi University “Alexandru Ioan Cuza”. Despite the age difference between us, we had good relations, but not very close. We communicated after we completed the studies. We weren’t connected through our jobs, but never turned the back to each other. I respect this man for the way in which he made political progress.
“With Mister Lupu, we had food professional relations during the short period we worked together. I then left the post and we didn’t communicate much since then. But I think that he is also a skilful politician who keeps his word and I have all the reasons to think that when he asked me to apply for the post of prosecutor general, he did it with honesty, out of the wish to support the institution’s reformation,” said Corneliu Gurin.
He provided details about his naming as prosecutor general after some of the parliamentary factions rejected candidate Vitali Pirlog, who was selected by the commission that he headed.
“I was elected chairman by the commission members unanimously. I wasn’t designated by the Head of Parliament and Mister Lupu didn’t interfere in the commission’s work. I want to say I regret that the parliamentary commissions didn’t accept the candidate selected by contest, Mister Vitalie Pirlog. He has a rich experience and surprised the commission by the professional way in which he presented himself at the contest. He has very good and modern views as regards the work of the PGO and had the best performance among the candidatures. I think they made a mistake when they reacted swiftly and didn’t examine the commission’s arguments and the candidate’s performance. The parliamentary groups announced publicly that they do not support Mister Pirlog, but I didn’t see somebody to professionally explain this refusal. Mister Marian Lupu invited me to a discussion and offered me to apply for prosecutor general. He presented me his arguments. I asked for a period to think about it and accepted to be fielded after discussing with a number of persons, including with Mister Vlad Filat,” Corneliu Gurin said in the interview for IPN.
Corneliu Gurin was appointed as prosecutor general on April 18. Last week, Parliament set up a commission to examine the circumstances in which the decision to name the new prosecutor general was taken, after a number of lawmakers said the Decision was passed by a lower than required number of votes.
