The international members of the vetting commission say they agreed to come to Moldova to contribute to the reform of the justice sector They hope that if this change was made in other states, it is possible in Moldova as well, IPN reports.
The vetting commission’s chairman Scott Bales worked for the Arizona Supreme Court for 14 years, including as its president from 2014 to 2019.
“I worked in the field of justice, as a judge and prosecutor. In the Republic of Moldova’s attempt to make a change, I undertook to come here and help with what I can. The main difference between the vetting commission and the pre-vetting commission lies in the subjects of the assessment. Our commission, the vetting one, assesses judges and candidates for the position of judges,” Scott Bales stated in the program “The Shadow Cabinet” on JurnalTV channel.
International member of the vetting commission Lavly Perling served as prosecutor general of Estonia and a member of the Ethics Council of Ukraine.
“Every member has their own experience. We don’t know how we were identified, but the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova asked us and now there are three international members and three national members in the vetting commission. We are members because we have the necessary experience, expertise. We wanted to come to Moldova, to support it. Vetting means integrity checking and we’re doing that now. I’m here because I believe that if we managed to make a change in Estonia, it is possible to achieve this change in Moldova as well. It’s necessary to ensure a transparent and efficient system,” stated Lavly Perling.
According to the law, the national members of the assessment commission are remunerated with money from the state budget, while the international members are paid by the development partners of the Republic of Moldova.
“The salaries of the national members are stipulated in the law and we are talking about two basic salaries of Supreme Court judges. This means 60,000 lei. This is the salary of national members. The salary of international members is confidential because it is paid by donors. Only the national members are paid with state budget funds, by the Ministry of Justice, which deducts income taxes and pays the net part,” said Andrei Bivol, deputy chairman of the vetting commission.
The vetting commission consists of six members: three members, who are citizens of the Republic of Moldova, are appointed at the proposal of parliamentary groups respecting the proportional representation of the government and the opposition, while the other three members are appointed at the proposal of development partners.
