Western partners support anticorruption initiatives in the judiciary

Moldova’s western partners and the Council of Europe support the Ministry of Justice’s initiatives regarding the reform of the judicial system in particular and the justice and law enforcement system in general. The statements have been made by three officials who met with Minister of Justice Oleg Efrim, Info-Prim Neo learned from a press release of the Ministry. The meeting was attended by US Ambassador in Chisinau William H. Moser, head of the EU Delegation in Chisinau Dirk Schuebel, and the special representative of the Council of Europe in Moldova Ulvi Akhundlu. The Minister provided the foreign officials with detailed information about the new package of anticorruption measures. Oleg Efrim thanked the three ambassadors for the offered support in promoting the initiative on the revocation of judges’ immunity in cases of corruption, which was met with opposition by the magistrates. Oleg Efrim said that the Ministry requested and obtained positive conclusions from the Council of Europe. Moreover, during the development of the package of laws that contains this provision and during its debating in Parliament, the Supreme Justice Court didn’t show any official disagreement and didn’t object in any way to the revocation of the judges’ immunity. Oled Efrim announced he would request the expert opinion of CoE’s specialized institutions regarding the anticorruption measures included in the new legislative package developed by the Ministry of Justice according to the Strategy of Reform in the Justice Sector. The Minister notes that a challenge will be the development of consistent regulation to apply special measures for seizing assets that cannot be justified. The three ambassadors promised they would provide all the necessary support to the 2011-2016 Justice Sector Reform Strategy and the Action Plan for its implementation.