The National Integrity Authority (NIA) asks to discharge the mayor of Ungheni town for breaking the legal regime of conflicts of interest. A request to this effect was made to the Ungheni Local Office of the State Chancellery on January 4, IPN reports.

In a press release, the NIA says that while on the job, the mayor of Ungheni signed three payment orders with a firm that belongs to his wife for purchasing goods and services, violating this way the legal provisions concerning the declaring and solving of conflicts of interest.

The mayor challenged in court the document issued by the NIA and won the case in the ordinary court and in the appeals court. The NIA appealed to the Supreme Court of Justice, which upheld the Authority’s document.

The mayor of Ungheni is to be banned from holding public posts, including of mayor, for a period of three years and will be put on the public list of persons with bans. Also, the payment orders signed by the mayor will be nullified.

Update /1:27pm/ Contacted by IPN for a comment, the mayor of Ungheni town Alexandru Ambros said the Supreme Court of Justice’s judgment annulled his appeal against the NIA’s document, but does not refer to his dismissal from the post of mayor. “I filed an application to have the NIAs ascertaining document annulled. I lodged an application, won the case in the first court and the second (appeals) court and the Supreme Court of Justice’s decision is inexplicable as this court examined the case in the absence of the parties, in my absence and in the absence of lawyers, and quashed the decisions of the first and second courts,” stated Alexandru Ambros. He noted he considers the NIA’s document is illegal as the law was applied retroactively.

Alexandru Ambros said he can be dismissed from the post of mayor only by a final court decision, but there is now no such a decision. A mayor is confirmed to the post by judges after the validation of elections and is discharged by a court decision. The NIA requested the Ungheni Local Office of the State Chancellery to initiate the procedure for dismissing him by making a claim in court and he has the right to challenge this claim.