The President of Moldova will be able to name an acting prosecutor general until a contest is held, at the suggestion of the Superior Council of Prosecutors, and will then appoint the selected candidate to the post by presidential decree. On July 16, Parliament agreed a bill that interprets provisions of the law on the prosecution service after giving it a first reading, IPN reports.

Under the current legal provisions, the post of prosecutor general is held by a caretaker in the absence of this or when this is unable to fulfil his duties, but the caretaker cannot carry out particular tasks.

“The holding of the post of prosecutor general on an interim basis when this is vacated is a temporary solution that will enable another person to fulfil the managerial duties for a definite period of time. The procedure for choosing this will be similar to the procedure for electing the permanent prosecutor general, at the proposal of the Superior Council of Prosecutors, who is appointed by presidential decree,” said one of the authors of the bill, ACUM MP Sergiu Litvinenko.

The bill also interprets the text “the candidates for prosecutor general during the past six months mustn’t have held the post of member of the  Superior Council of Prosecutors”, specifying the candidates can include the person who acted as caretaker, either this took part or not in the Council’s meeting or in the process of taking decisions at the Council.

According to Sergiu Litvinenko, even if this text is clear and unequivocal, in practice it was interpreted contrary to the lawmakers‘ wish and allowed admitting a person who served as a member of the Superior Council of Prosecutors to the contest and even appointing this as prosecutor general.

Eduard Harunjen was dismissed as prosecutor general by presidential decree on July 11, based on his recognition. Two days earlier, Parliament ascertained this didn’t meet the conditions for being named to this post as he had served as a member of the Superior Council of Prosecutors as caretaker prosecutor general during nine months prior to his appointment.

Eduard Harunjen was appointed prosecutor general on December 8, 2016 by a decree issued by the then President Nicolae Timofti, at the suggestion of the Superior Council of Prosecutors, one day after the results of the selection contest were announced.