The extraordinary assessment of anticorruption prosecutors will keep only the honest and professional people in the system, said President Maia Sandu, who insists on the continuation of vetting among prosecutors and judges. According to the official, the more efficient the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office (APO) is, the greater citizens’ support for this entity will be, IPN reports.
In a program on the public television channel, the head of state said the people’s and authorities’ expectations of the APO concern not only the head of the institution Veronica Dragalin, but also the entire system. Maia Sandu voiced hope that, after integrity of anticorruption prosecutors is assessed, the institution will deliver more results, despite the problems it faces.
“We are talking about an entire system, not just about one person. I’m convinced that both Veronica Dragalin and other employees have good intentions and are working to have a functional system so that the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office becomes a strong entity. Of course, there is the problem of staff and this problem must be solved. But to begin with, we must make sure that the people who work there are honest people, are prosecutors who work based on the law. After the integrity assessment, which is conducted among prosecutors, we will know that we have an Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office made up of upright people and, after this exercise, I hope to see more results,” Maia Sandu stated in a special edition on the public television channel Moldova 1.
The official noted that the lack of results in high-profile cases cannot be blamed only on prosecutors. There are cases sent by prosecutors to court, but they remain without an end result because of the judges.
“The more results the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office deliver, the more support there will be from the citizens so that the Government can solve the problem of resources. The fact that there are no finalized cases is not only the problem of the Prosecutor’s Office as the last decision is taken by judges. Even in the cases that the Prosecutor’s Office sent to court, we do not always see that judges have a serious attitude. But we must not generalize. We also have prosecutors and judges who work well. We want there to be as many people of this kind as possible. We no longer want to have corrupt people in the Prosecutor’s Office or in the judiciary,” said President Sandu.
Earlier, Veronica Dragalin explained that, due to the vetting, a number of employees of the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office resigned, refusing to have their assets checked. Prosecutors responsible for high-profile cases, including the bank fraud case, also resigned.
