Judge who decided in favor of his colleague to be dismissed

The Supreme Council of Magistrates accepted the challenge filed by Minister of Justice Oleg Efrim and ordered firing the Chisinau Court of Appeals judge Grigore Zubati. The minister accused the judge of illegally passing a decision to allocate a plot in Chisinau in favor of a colleague of his, Info-Prim Neo reports. According to the Ministry of Justice, in 2008 a judge appealed to the Administrative Bard of the Chisinau Court of Appeals, which obliged the Chisinau Municipal Council to distribute a plot on which to erect a house. The judge asked the Chisinau Court of Appeals to change the method of implementing the earlier decision, obtaining the ownership right over 670 square meters of land in the residential quarter situated on Avicena – Nicolae Testemitanu streets, with the involvement of his colleague Grigore Zubati. Zubati ordered registering this right in the Real Estate Register without waiting for the approval of the Chisinau Municipal Council, which is the only authority that can take decisions as regards the sale, privatization or leasing out of municipal property. Also, the two judges didn’t respect the provision that obliges them to inform the president of the Chisinau Court of Appeals or of the Supreme Council of Magistrates about a possible conflict of interests. Afterward, the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Council of Magistrates decided to give a reprimand to Grigore Zubati, but Oleg Efrim challenged this punishment, considering it too mild. Grigore Zubati will be unable to work as a judge. He will be dismissed by an order of President Nicolae Timofti.