Returning to work and overdue salary payment to the deputy mayor Mihai Furtuna raise polemics between Municipal Councilors

The issue regarding the return to office and overdue salary payment to the deputy mayor Mihai Furtuna, dismissed by a decision of Chisinau Municipal Council on January 20, 2006, raised hard polemics between councilors, within the Thursday meeting, on June 15. Recently, the Appeal Court declared illegal the CMC decision regarding the dismissal of the deputy mayor Mihai Furtuna and obliged the Council to pay to the deputy mayor the overdue salaries for 6 month of forced inactivity. Several councilors, inclusively the representative of “Moldova Noastra”, Oleg Cernei, stated that CMC must only take note of the Court’s decision, because this decision is irrevocable and can not be voted, and the Finance Department shall execute the overdue salary payment. As a retort, the interim Mayor Vasile Ursu said that CMC is the body that approved issues on public finances. He mentioned that the expenses for this payment were not included into the budget. The same opinion was shared by the Prosecutor of the Chisinau Municipality, Vasile Pascari, as well as the deputy mayor Petru Svet, who said that it is necessary to have decision of CMC in order to pay the wage overdue. The independent councilor Valeriu Musuc solicited specifications regarding the competences resting with Furtuna in the case of his return to the work, taking into consideration the fact that on April 13, CMC elected the communist councilor Veaceslav Iordan as deputy Mayor, despite the intimation submitted to the Territorial Chisinau Office of the Government, which considered illegal the dismissal of Furtuna while he was on a sick leave. In this context, the communist councilor Valeri Pavlov said that CMC is not obliged to comply with absolutely all the decisions of the Court, because it does not consider illegal the decision on Furtuna’s dismissal. According to him, the decision of the Appeal Court can be disputed in other courts, inclusively European. The issue was included into the supplementary agenda of CMC and followed to be examined after the agenda was exhausted. The initiative regarding the dismissal of Mihai Furtuna is belonging to the communist councilors, who accused him of not preparing in time a budget decision. In favor of the deputy Mayor’s dismissal have voted 31 communist, Christian-democrat, social-democrat and also independent councilors. Against this decision were AMN councilors and several independent councilors. Mihai Furtuna commented the dismissal as “a political action”, generated by his AMN membership. The legislation in force stipulates the presence of 4 deputy Mayors of Chisinau municipality, all being occupied for the moment: one by Vasile Ursu who also holds the office of interim General Mayor, and another three by the representatives of the Communists’ Party: Fiodor Negru, Petru Svet and Veaceslav Iordan.