All the five members of the commission for pre-vetting the candidate for the post of chief prosecutor of the Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime and Special Cases (PCCOCS) announced their withdrawal. The information was confirmed for IPN by the head of the Protocol and Public Relations Service of the Superior Council of Prosecutors (SCP) Eugeniu Roșca.
The five members of the commission announced their withdrawal only verbally for now. The Superior Council of Prosecutors is to convene on Thursday to take subsequent decisions.
A scandal broke out in connection with the contest after Iulian Groza, a civil society representative sitting on the commission for pre-vetting candidates, alleged pressures against him. Subsequently, unverified reports started being spread through Telegram Messenger channels that Groza’s Institute for European Policies and Reforms had obtained access to personal data on prosecutor Eugen Rurac, one of the candidates seeking the vacant job. Minister of Justice Sergiu Litvinenco proposed cancelling the contest given the allegations that have a potential to undermine public confidence in the Prosecution Service in general and in the PCCOCS in particular. The proposal was yet rejected by the SCP.
The contest involves prosecutor Eugen Rurac, prosecutor Sergiu Russu, who held the post of PCCOCS chief prosecutor on an interim basis, and former prosecutor Andrei Matskop, who currently practices as a lawyer.
