Iulian Muntean was obliged to indicate in the questionnaire of the pre-vetting commission if he was criminally punished or is the subject of a criminal investigation, said the member of the Superior Council of Magistracy (SCM) Ion Guzun. According to him, a large part of the blame is borne by the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office that five years ago didn’t introduce the name of the persons accused in this case in the database. In the same connection, the chairman of the Party “Dignity and Truth Platform” (PPPDA) Dinu Plîngău said the scandal featuring SCM member Iulian Muntean shows that the justice sector reform failed, IPN reports.
CSM member Iulian Muntean, who was named by Parliament, passed the assessment of the pre-vetting commission even if he is investigated in a criminal case. On Tuesday, the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office informed that it instituted criminal proceedings against National Anticorruption Center employees responsible for the collection, examination and provision of information to the pre-vetting commission. SCM member Ion Guzun said the blame is primarily borne by the candidate who didn’t inform about the existence of a criminal case in the pre-vetting commission’s questionnaire.
“He was obliged to indicate in the questionnaire, even if the questioner is voluntary. It is a serious ethical problem. You can prove your uprightness when are asked if you had been subjected to criminal punishments or if you are the subject of a criminal investigation. He didn’t indicate this. Furthermore, the pre-vetting commission is not a prosecutor that should possess all the cases and check them. The commission asked for information from the other entities. We later saw that the case is handled by the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office and five years ago it didn’t introduce information in the database about offenses. We ascertained that a person passed through all the vulnerable points of the assessment and showed that at least 80 persons didn’t appear in any database during the past five years. We didn’t see them in the reports compiled by the NAC or the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office. This is very serious,” Ion Guzun stated in the program “Résumé” on RliveTV channel.
PPPDA chairman Dinu Plîngău said the appointment of Iulian Muntean, who is investigated in a criminal case, as SCM member shows that the extraordinary assessment process launched by the PAS failed.
“The reform initiated with good intentions, because the assessment is a very good idea, failed. Today we witness an absurd situation. A SCM member is featured in a criminal case started over corruption. There is pertinent evidence there. Therefore, the case hasn’t been dropped. This seriously affects the image of the Superior Council of Prosecutors. Where is the guarantee, as a citizen who expects appropriate justice to be done, that information about the other members hadn’t been hidden and this will not be made public later and will not shock us? About property, about cases. SCM member Ion Guzun worked for the NGO CRJM. The pre-vetting commission includes a member of the CRJM. A candidate for judge of the Supreme Court of Justice is also a member of the CRJM. Suspicions appear about the impartiality of this commission that assessed the candidates for member of the SCM,” stated Dinu Plîngău.
On Tuesday, September 26, Iulian Muntean tendered his resignation from the post of member of the Superior Council of Magistracy to the Parliament’s secretariat.
