Oferta Plus accuses Government of pressure

The private company Oferta Plus SRL, which won against Moldova in a case judged by the ECRH last February, accuses the Government of indirectly pressing it, to tergiversate the execution of the writ entitling it to get 2.5 million euros in damages. According to Oferta Plus SRL's lawyer, Vladislav Gribincea, that's the motive why the Government sued the decision in the Grand Chamber of the European Court. On July 7, the court rejected the Greceanai Government's request as groundless. “The Government sued the writ, knowing it had no chance. It is obvious it tries to tergiversate the execution of the decision and to penalize the company. It's indirect pressure what the Government does, after exhausting all other methods of pressure,” Vladislav Gribincea told a news conference on Tuesday. The barrister says the Government should be more careful with the applications it makes before the Grand Chamber . “The Government has already questioned six ECHR decisions. Only one was accepted, and this places the Government in an embarrassing position,” Gribincea says. Gribincea points out that, although the law allows to search the national judges guilty of sentencing Moldova at the ECHR, the authorities avoid to use this procedure as to the Oferta Plus case. On the other hand, the chairman of the Superior Magistrature Council, Nicolae Clima, says the condemnation by the ECRH “does not necessarily imply starting regress procedures against the judges”. Moreover, according to Nicolae Clima, “there is no sign of disciplinary deviation in this case” committed by judges. In February 2008, the European Court for Human Rights obliged Moldova to pay Oferta Plus over 2.5 million euros in damages, an amount larger than all the losses borne by the Government in similar cases before. The company notified the ECHR, after it imported electricity into Moldova, selling it to budgetary institutions in 1997-1998, as the Government paid off only a part of the agreed money. Oferta Plus tried to get the money through courts, as the Supreme Court of Justice ruled in the company's favor in 2001 obliging the Finance Ministry to pay 20 million lei. Following an agreement between Oferta Plus and the Finance Ministry, in 2003, the money was to be reimbursed in several tranches, within 10 months. After paying during 2.5 months, the Tarlev cabinet ceased paying and in 2004 the company complained to the Strasbourg Court. Following the move, the Supreme Court of Justice annulled its own decision in 2001. Oferta Plus's manager was then arrested for three months. In addition to those 2.5 million euros in damages, the ECHR obliges the Greceanai Government to pay 25,000 euros as moral damages and 10,000 euros for court expenditures.