The Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime and Special Cases started a criminal case over the facts stated by the leader of the Party “Action and Solidarity” (PAS) Maia Sandu in a denouncing statement against the Democratic leader Vlad Plahotniuc. On October 12, Maia Sandu was informed that she was classed as a witness, IPN reports.
After a discussion with the prosecutor in charge of this case that lasted for almost 20 minutes, Maia Sandu told the journalists that she was familiarized with the Penal Code provisions about criminal liability for false statements. The hearings start on October 13 and she was invited to confirm the facts stated in the denouncing statement and to present new information about this case if she possesses some.
Maia Sandu noted that this act by the Prosecutor’s Office is an attempt to intimidate her given that in the case of the denouncement they submitted earlier against President Igor Dodon, she received a response by mail. “As this case involves Vlad Plahotniuc, the prosecutor aimed to stage a show, informing me about those provisions of the Penal Code so as to make me give up,” stated the PAS leader.
According to Nicolae Rosca, the politician’s lawyer, the prosecutor in charge, at a particular stage of the process, will have to interrogate the leader of the PDM Vlad Plahotniuc, to which the self-denouncing statement refers.
In a press release, the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) says the invitation to hearings is a necessary measure that is applied in all the cases of the kind in a move to ensure the good functioning of the legal procedural measures. Also, the informing of the denouncer about the legal provisions is a mandatory, not optional measure that is imposed by the Penal Procedure Code. Today, Maia Sandu didn’t want to furnish the prosecutor with additional details about the denouncement and chose to come to a new hearing tomorrow.
On September 21, the Party “Action and Solidarity” submitted a denouncing statement against the president of the Democratic Party Vlad Plahotniuc to the Prosecutor General’s Office, requesting that Plahotniuc should be held accountable for the usurpation of state power. PAS leader Maia Sandu said the PDM now holds a majority of seats after forcing MPs to defect from their parties to it. Earlier, the PAS submitted a similar denouncing statement against the President of Moldova Igor Dodon. The PGO responded that it does not have legal reasons to react.
