Chisinau mayor accused of power abuse, again

General mayor Dorin Chirtoaca appointing direction heads stirred again hot debate within the Chisinau Municipal Council (CMC). The apple of discord was the head of the Health Direction this time, Info-Prim Neo reports. Mihai Moldovanu, a member of the Liberal Party (PL), was invested in this position on October 19, 2007, by the mayor's decision. The decision was sued. The Chisinau Court of Appeals, and then the Supreme Court of Justice, stated that Moldovanu's being appointed had no legal ground, as the municipal directions are subordinated to the CMC. Later, the mayor appointed Moldovanu again, invoking the Law on the Local Public Administration, according to which the mayor appoints the direction chiefs. “There is only one document providing that the directions belong to the CMC – the Regulation (on the CMC's constituting and functioning). It was enacted in 2004-2005, while the Law on the Local Public Administration was adopted in 2006,” the PL leader Mihai Ghimpu said at the CMC's sitting on September 16. “Moreover, the mayor sued the Regulation. Which heads of the Government's directions are appointed by the Parliament?” Ghimpu asked. “The general mayor did not have the power to issue the sued decision,” retorted the CMC chairman, Eduard Musuc. He proposed to hold a contest for the position of Health Direction Head, and to include 2 more members into the contest commission. The president of the PLDM faction, the lawyer Alexandru Tanase, has said that if nobody sued the last appointment by the mayor, the function is already occupied. “Any judge will immediately annul any CMC decision allowing to select and appoint another person, as long as that position is not vacant,” the PLDM councilor said. According to him, the position will turn vacant only after suing and annulling the appointment decision, an dafter the mayor will cancel the work contract. Tanase added “it's not correct that the mayor profits from the divergences in legislation to issue a new ordinance, after the previous ordinance was declared illegal”. “It's a matter of principle and we're wasting time in courts,” AMN councilor Oleg Cernei said. He suggested that the members of the contest commission should not be medics. Cernei added that Victor Savin, earlier having run the Health Direction and being now a member of the contest commission, “is interested to revenge on Moldovanu.” When asked to say his view on the situation, the Government's representative at the CMC sittings, Ghenadie Gluşcenco, accused the mayor “of power abuse”, adding “his actions are liable to the Penal Code, as the respective authorities will react to this subject.” Gluscenco has said his direction sued the appointment of all direction heads by Dorin Chirtoaca. A number of councilors were indignant that the head of the contest commission was appointed the deputy mayor Igor Lupulciuc, a PSD member. Other two members are the CMC ad interim secretary Nicolae Monastarli and the AMN councilor, Victor Savin. Finally the councilors voted to hold the contest for the position of Health Direction head. Mihai Moldovanu has told Info-Prim Neo that he “will further honor the obligations.” In his opinion, “they cannot appoint a new direction head, since the position is not vacant”. The Chisinau mayor has repeatedly been accused of appointing functionaries by political criteria. Dorin Chirtoaca retorted he assumes the consequences of his decisions and that he prefers to work with people he knows. The mayor has also sued the decisions to hold contests on appointing direction heads, accusing they lack transparency and objectiveness. Last week, a similar conflict burst between the mayor and the head of the Social Assistance Direction, Eugenia Ceban, earlier dismissed by Dorin Chirtoaca and re-established by court. When asked by the mayor to report on illegalities unveiled in her direction, Ceban retorted he subordinated to the CMC, and the mayor did not have the right to ask any kind of information from her.