Two Court of Appeals judges are under disciplinary investigation

Two judges of the Chisinau Court of Appeals are under disciplinary investigation at the order of Minister of Justice Oleg Efrim. Mihail Ciugureanu and Grigore Zubati are accused of violating the impartiality regulation and the norms of the professional ethics code, Info-Prim Neo learned from a press release of the Ministry of Justice. The disciplinary proceedings were initiated against judge Mihail Ciugureanu as a result of petition sent to the Ministry of Justice by the National Center for Protection of Property Rights. In 2008, Mihail Ciugurean addressed to the administrative court of the Chisinau Court of Appeals, which obliged the Chisinau Municipal Council to allot him a parcel of land for the construction of a house, according to the Law on the status of the judge. This year, the judge went to the Chisinau Court of Appeals with a request to change the method of execution of the previous decision, obtaining, with the help of his colleague Grigore Zubati, property rights for a land of 670 sq. meters in the housing neighborhood on Avicena St – Nicolae Testemitanu St. Moreover, Grigore Zubati ruled that this property right should be registered in the Real Estate Registry, without waiting, as stipulated by law, the approval of the Chisinau Municipal Council, the only institution with the authority to decide the sale, privatization, concession or rental of state-owned goods. Besides, the two magistrates didn’t respect the provisions of legislation, which obliges them to inform the head of the Chisinau Court of Appeals or the Magistrates’ Superior Council (CSM) about any potential conflict of interests. In such situations, Mihail Ciugureanu’s request had to be submitted to the Supreme Justice Court, which should decide what competent court would examine it. Grigore Zubati had to recuse himself for being a colleague of the claimant, in order to remove any suspicions of impartiality, explained the Minister of Justice. The file was sent for examination to the CSM Disciplinary College. Moreover, Oleg Efrim notified the Prosecutor General’s Office, which should inspect if the magistrates’ actions contain elements of a criminal offense. In July, the Minister of Justice ordered disciplinary proceedings against four other judges – Iurie Silarin, Aurelia Parpalac, Maria Chiperi and Veronica Nichitenco, who employed illegal schemes to obtain real estate properties and caused damages of about €67,000 to the Causeni Town Hall and Town Council. The cases are on the agenda of CSM’s Disciplinary Council.