MP of the PAS group Sergiu Litvinenko said the new Prosecutor General Alexandr Stoianoglo’s decision to name the chief of the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office (APO) Viorel Morari as prosecutor at the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) is illegal. He noted the legislation clearly stipulates in what situations a person can be delegated to work for a period of up to a month and the condition specified in the Law on the Prosecutor’s Office was not met in this case. The issue was developed in a talk show on Jurnal TV channel, IPN reports.
Sergiu Litvinenko stated he has reservations about the integrity of Viorel Morari and his return to the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office, when this happened. However, while Viorel Morari had headed the APO, the institution made particular moves, especially as regards such resonant cases as the sequestration of property of the former leader of the Democratic Party Vladimir Plahotniuc, the listing of this as wanted at international level, the case concerning “Metalferos” company, the cases started against “corrupt judges”. “Given that last week Mister Morari annulled the ordinance not to take legal action over the foreign financing intended for the Party of Socialists, there are yet reasons to believe that Alexandr Stoianoglo, judging by what he did (e.n.: initiated inspections at two prosecutor’s offices and delegated Morari to work at the PGO), is a person close to Igor Dodon,” he said.
Former MP Alexandru Petkov said now that Viorel Morari was transferred to the PGO, he makes a victim of himself for being removed from the APO after annulling the ordinance not to take legal action over the financing of the PSRM from outside the country. “Unlike others, I don’t think prosecutor Viorel Morari is a victim and I have several pertinent reasons. (...) This person, Viorel Morari, plays the key role in a number of really political cases. If we examine his biography since 2014, we will identify “the case of Antifa”, which is a purely political one. In 2014, Morari handled the case of the armored car of Banca de Economii that burned in Ialoveni together with the documents concerning the bank fraud. Did you hear something about the results?” asked Alexandru Petkov. He noted this should be dismissed and convicted for such cases, adding that the decisions regarding Viorel Morari will be a test for the new prosecutor general.
Ex-MP Stela Jantuan said the APO and the Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime during the last few years had been the key performers of the Plahotniuc regime in not only economic, but also political cases. “The APO managed by Viorel Morari was present in all the resonant political and economic cases. We forgot what these prosecutor’s offices should do and now say that Mister Morari, who is simply an opportunist as he profited from the change of government, began to start criminal cases that were to be started in 2015,” she stated, noting she considers the current prosecutor general’s actions are perfectly legal.
On December 9, the Prosecutor General’s Office announced that chief anticorruption prosecutor Viorel Morari will be assigned to work for a month at the PGO, while the chief prosecutor of the Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime and Special Cases Dorin Compan will return to his post of prosecutor at the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office. Also, Prosecutor General Alexandr Stoianoglo instructed two groups of prosecutors to carry out all-embracing inspections at the two specialized prosecutor’s offices.