Minister of Justice Sergiu Litvinenco should temporarily leave the post until the Prosecutor’s Office confirms or repudiates the authenticity of the discussions disseminated in the public sphere, said the chairman of the Coalition for Unity and Welfare Igor Munteanu. According to him, the leaks seriously affected the image of the government. For its part, the parliamentary opposition said they aim to remove Sergiu Litvinenco from the post by the no-confidence motion they submitted in Parliament. The minister’s party mates defend Litvinenco and say the discussions were fake, IPN reports.
The parliamentary opposition noted the disseminated conversations showed that the minister of justice rigged the contest to fill the post of chief of the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Officer and that the justice sector reform promised by the PAS is only an electoral slogan.
“We wouldn’t have proposed a no-confidence motion if the minister had tendered his resignation of honor, if there is yet honor… Judging by the discussions in society and in the circles of those who do justice in the Republic of Moldova, it’s clear that the justice sector reform is mimicked. You saw how a contest can be simulated so that the candidate wanted by the government wins. It was known who will occupy the post of chief anticorruption prosecutor. The leaks only confirmed that the process was vitiated,” BCS MP Grigore Novac stated in the talk show “Black Box” on TV8 channel.
PAS MPs said the minister is the victim of mafia clans and foreign intelligence services whose goal is to compromise the justice sector reform launched by the ruling party.
“Some of the distributed discussions were fabricated, while others were truncated. The context in which the information was obtained and the way in which it was made public clearly show that someone presented things in a distorted way so as to discredit Sergiu Litivnenco. The cases started against Dodon and the PSRM make progress and this is painful. To cover these cases, they disseminate inventions and unfounded assertions. We will yet continue focusing on the justice sector reform,” said PAS MP Vasile Grădinaru.
In the same connection, the extraparliamentary opposition and political commentators said the distributed Telegram conversations had an impact on the PAS’ image and Sergiu Litvinenco should step down as minister for a period, until light is shed in this case.
“This hacking of accounts is a very serious offense. It is a crime against the involved persons, against government officials and it shows the weaknesses in the process of protecting the state institutions. The Prosecutor’s Office should immediately determine the authenticity of these discussions. This is not the duty of the parliamentary commission of inquiry. The Prosecutor’s Office, in cooperation with the SIS, should have already confirmed or refuted the authenticity of those conversations. Litvinenco should leave the post temporarily, until the situation is clarified,” said CUB chairman Igor Munteanu.
“Sergiu Litvinenco wasn’t at all coherent in his statements. Initially, he said the conversations were fake. Then he said that they were partially true. But these leaks affected the image of the ruling party and minister Litvinenco. They confirm that there is no view on the justice sector reform. If it turns out that those things are true, the procedure for reforming the justice system is not at all the best one,” noted political commentator Ion Tăbîrță.
Under the law, a no-confidence motion is adopted by the votes of at least 51 MPs of the 101. The PAS parliamentary group has 63 members.
