Only three of the four candidates for the position of prosecutor general were admitted to the next stage. Grigore Vornicescu, former university lecturer, was excluded from the competition. The decision was approved on Friday by the Superior Council of Prosecutors (SCP). The Council set for May 30 the interview stage for the three candidates, IPN reports.

The eligibility of the candidates was examined behind closed doors. Following the examination, SCP member Mariana Kerpek said that was found that only three of the applicants meet the conditions provided by law, namely: current interim prosecutor general Ion Munteanu, deputy chief prosecutor of the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office Octavian Yakimovski and prosecutor Alexandru Cernei.

“As for candidate Grigore Vornicescu, I specify that, following the verification of all the filed documents, it was determined that he doesn’t meet one of the conditions, namely that he previously didn’t hold the position of judge, prosecutor, lawyer or criminal investigation officer for at least five years. Moreover, by the May 15 deadline he didn’t submit the entire set of documents necessary for participation in the contest. It goes to the detailed criminal record, which he presented only on May 20. Likewise, so far, Mr. Vornicescu hasn’t presented the medical certificate regarding the state of health,” said Mariana Kerpek.

In the same meeting, the SCP set for May 30, 09:00, the interview stage for the three candidates admitted to the competition.

The appointment of the prosecutor general is one of the issues that needs to be resolved for the Republic of Moldova to start negotiations for accession to the European Union. The negotiations are expected to start at the end of June.

The position of prosecutor general remained vacant after Alexandru Stoianoglo was suspended from office in early October 2021 and was dismissed at the end of September 2023. The presidential decree on his dismissal was based on the SCP’s decision regarding the unsatisfactory performance of Alexandru Stoianoglo. The post was held on an interim basis by Dumitru Robu and then by Ion Munteanu.

The SCP, including in the previous composition, made attempts to select the head of the Prosecutor General’s Office, but all of these failed.