It is important for the cases involving judges to have an end result or confidence in the prosecution service and justice will be undermined, said jurist Nicolae Eșanu. He expressed his bewilderment at the fact that lawyers and prosecutors are not investigated, as judges are, as the judges cannot commit illegalities without the involvement of some of the lawyers or prosecutors, IPN reports.
On Tuesday, the Superior Council of Magistracy accepted the four requests by which acting Prosecutor General Ion Munteanu asked for permission to investigate four judges.
“On the one hand, that press release saddened me as we have additional reasons to be concerned about the situation in the justice sector. On the other hand, it can be an encouraging sign that the Prosecutor General’s Office really wants to bring things in justice in order. I’m concerned about the fact that the eventual involvement of prosecutors or lawyers is not mentioned. I’m sure that the judges, without the participation of prosecutors or lawyers, cannot commit illegalities, alone. I wonder if this is not a new campaign or situation when particular groups from the system settle an old score with other groups. I don’t want the law to be applied discriminatorily, selectively,” Nicolae Eșanu stated in the program “Reflection Points” on Vocea Basarabiei channel.
The investigation of the four judges is conducted by the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office with the assistance of the National Anticorruption Center. One of the judges is suspected of passive corruption and influence peddling. Another two judges are suspected of complicity in influence peddling and, respectively, influence peddling, while the fourth judge is suspected of active corruption. Nicolae Eșanu said such cases should have an end result or the citizens’ trust in justice will decline.
“The Superior Council of Magistracy should not arrogate to itself duties that it does not have. The SCM has one duty – to watch over and make sure that criminal cases are not started abusively. They should not check so thoroughly as to turn into a court of law. It is enough for a reasonable suspicion to exist and for the signs of abuse to be stipulated in the indictment. It is important that the given cases have an end result. We have a practice when triumphalist announcements concerning the initiation of criminal proceedings are made, but there is no end result. This is extremely dangerous as confidence in the prosecution service and justice is undermined,” stated the jurist.
The four judges were suspended from posts until a final decision is taken in the case involving them.
