President dismisses judge Grigore Zubati

President Nicolae Timofti Friday signed a decree to dismiss Chisinau Court of Appeals judge Grigore Zubati from post because of disciplinary deviations. The Supreme Council of Magistrates ordered firing the judge at the end of January, Info-Prim Neo reports. The former judge was accused by Minister of Justice Oleg Efrim of taking an illegal decision to allot a plot of land in Chisinau to a colleague of his, who is also a judge. 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.