The head of the General Inspectorate for Migration Mihail Vodă, his deputies and the heads of the Residence Supervision Division and the Asylum and Statelessness Division were fired. The decisions were taken by Minister of Internal Affairs Adrian Efros following the investigation ordered in connection with the irregularities in the asylum application file of the Turkish citizen who was murdered in July in Chisinau. The person who directly handled the case and two other employees of those under investigation meanwhile submitted their resignations to leave the system, IPN reports.
The internal inquiry was carried out by the Internal Protection and Anticorruption Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The Service identified shortcomings in the internal procedures regarding work in the field of migration, asylum and statelessness, namely the mandatory submission of documents to substantiate the delays in the examination of the case – reasons due to illness, lack of defense or certified translation. Also, there was identified negligence in service by exceeding the 21-day deadline for interviewing the asylum seeker, in this case the interview being conducted at a distance of two months and 8 days.
Shortcomings were also found in the exchange of service information between the Inspectorate’s Divisions. For example, one of the divisions did not inform about the fact that it had already issued a notice of rejection of the right of abode requested by the Turkish citizen. Following this rejection, the Turkish citizen applied for asylum. This lack of information brought the asylum application file to the starting point, without it being known that the Turk was pursued internationally, even though that division had this information in the file of rejection of the right of abode.
The internal inquiry included six employees of the General Inspectorate for Migration. To ensure the proper conduct of the investigation, the employees concerned were transferred to other divisions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The results of the internal inquiry within the Ministry of Internal Affairs are to be submitted to the Prosecutor’s Office for the completion of the criminal investigation into this case.
On July 10, a Turkish citizen was murdered on the terrace of a restaurant in Râșcani district of the capital city. After the murder, it was determined that the victim was a criminal authority, who was being pursued internationally by the authorities of the United Kingdom. Parliamentary hearings followed, at which it was announced that a number of state institutions will carry out internal inquiries.
The Turkish citizen could stay in the Republic of Moldova even though the Security and Intelligence Service informed the General Inspectorate for Migration that the person was wanted internationally and had been convicted of a series of crimes. The Turkish citizen’s application for asylum was rejected in 2022, but the decision was appealed to court and the person concerned remained on the territory of the Republic of Moldova. The law provides that particular files of foreign citizens, who pose risks, are examined according to a fast procedure. However, the General Inspectorate for Migration did not use this provision.
