The Superior Council of Magistracy (CSM) rejected on September 24 the request of a group of judges to convene the extraordinary meeting of the General Assembly of Judges. The interim chair of the CSM, Dorel Musteață, specified that, in fact, there was no verification of the signatory judges, as stated in the media. "A group of judges, behind whom is a shadow group, organized the collecting of signatures of judges. And they submitted this request to the Superior Council of Magistracy in order to convene the extraordinary meeting of the Assembly of Judges with a view to terminating from their positions the members of the Council”, stated Nina Cernat, member of the CSM. In her opinion, the action is an attempt to block the Council’s activity, and in the stead of the current members to bring people who would "serve this group of people who are in the shadow."
The Supreme Council of Magistracy (CSM) admitted the withdrawal of the judge immunity of Ion Druță, chairman of the Supreme Court of Justice(CSJ), at the request of the interim prosecutor general. A press release of the Anticorruption Prosecutor's Office, mentions that as grounds for the criminal prosecution served the notification of the Information and Security Service, which evaluated the properties acquired by the members of the Druță family in the 2016-2019 period, given that an essential discrepancy was found between the properties and the declared income.
Border police officers who did not comply with instructions to facilitate certain smuggling activities were prosecuted. The statement was made by the head of the Border Police, Rosian Vasiloi. “Spirits, cigarettes and amber were directed to the north. Spirits, cigarettes and alcohol were directed to the southern part of the border. The airport had its own area of specialization - gold, amber and anabolics. Nothing happened by chance. Everything was coordinated from a hub. Certain companies were selling spirits to particular circles of people. Cigarettes were purchased only from specific companies", said Rosian Vasiloi.
Public policy expert Stefan Gligor says that in the first 100 days of the current government, an unlikely coalition has been set up and this is a great success. In his opinion, today's society is freer, but, the reform of the judiciary, for instance, has not succeeded. Political commentator Alexandru Petcov argues that in the first 100 days of governance he did not really see any economic leap forward. Democratic MP Nicolae Ciubuc believes that an achievement of the current government is that it recognizes its mistakes. Igor Grosu, the chairman of the PAS group, ACUM bloc, mentions that the speed at which things change cannot be to everyone’s liking. What has certainly been attained by the current government, says Igor Grosu, is the restoration of good relations with the external partners.
In a report presented on September 24, Prime Minister Maia Sandu maintains that the initiation of the justice reform and the restoration of foreign partners’ confidence in the Republic of Moldova are among the main achievements of the Government in 100 days from the investment. The prime minister mentioned the creation of a Council for the coordination of anti-corruption policies, several corruption schemes that have been discovered in state-owned enterprises. These are "PD schemes at the Airport, Air Moldova, Modtelecom, Metalferos, Chisinau Arena". Fraudulent privatizations and dubious procurement processes were stopped. The officials involved in the abuses were dismissed. The greatest accomplishment is that Plahotniuc and Șor, and other thieves like them are no longer in power, no longer invent new schemes to steal our money. More and more of their crimes are coming to light,” the prime minister said. During this time, corrections have been made to the financing programs "which were allocated on political criteria in the past" and resources have been found to pay salaries according to the new provisions of the wage law.
Answering journalists’ questions after the presentation of the report on the 100 days of Government’s activity, Maia Sandu specified that "if, from the UN rostrum, President Igor Dodon will make statements that do not reflect the position of the executive branch and the ACUM Bloc, we will clearly dissociate ourselves from these statements, including from the part regarding the withdrawal of ammunition and of the army from the Transnistrian region". In other news, Maia Sandu said that much resistance was encountered while the reformation process of the justice system was carried out. The system and the politicians are those who resist change. Asked whether Chișinău International Airport and Giurgiulești port might be transferred to the property of Russian investors, the prime minister replied that this scenario cannot be discussed as long as the concession contract of the Airport is challenged and as long as things are not clarified. Additionally, the prime minister said that she did not know what was the reason for the cessation of the criminal investigation based on the video recordings where Vladimir Plahotniuc and Igor Dodon discuss. As for Pavel Filip’s alternative report regarding the 100-day government activity, which was issued on Monday, September 23, Maia Sandu said that "Pavel Filip bemoans the dismantling of the corruption schemes that fed all PD members and the entire PD mafia system". According to her, "if the Prosecutor's Office were to work properly, Filip and his colleagues would have to pay for those illicit privatizations, corruption schemes and abusive tenders, not complain on television."
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration declares itself puzzled and outraged by Leonid Manakov’ s speech, delivered at the plenary sitting of the 42nd session of the UN Human Rights Council, on September 23. Through this speech, "on behalf of the Transnistrian people and by order of Transnistrian leadership", the official representative of Transnistrian region in Moscow, "directly calls upon the international community to recognize Transnistria' s independence as a subject of international law." Thus, MAEIE made a request to the leadership of the Russian Federation to cease the activity of ““Transnistria” Foundation for the development of social and cultural relations”, opened in Moscow earlier this year, headed by Leonid Manakov, given that it actually operates as an "official representation of Transnistria" in the Russian Federation.
The Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for National Security, Defence and Public Order, Chiril Moţpan, argues that, from 2015 until now, "General Media Group" Ltd company, which holds the broadcast licenses of Prime TV and Publica TV stations, has obtained from different legal entities and natural persons, significant financial means. "The first financier is, of course, the owner, Vladimir Plahotniuc, who transferred into the company’s account 43 million 358 thousand lei, as contribution to the share capital and 48 million 607 thousand lei, in the form of a loan, writes the MP on Facebook. (Recently, a statement of "General Media Group CORP Ltd" has mentioned that "all the operations of the company are transparent, in compliance with the effective laws and norms, and these things can be verified and proved at any time by any control authority of the state.").
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