Shortly after the expulsion, in contradictory conditions, of the seven Turkish citizens, IPN News Agency issued former high-ranking officials of the Republic of Moldova with a set of questions the answers to which could contribute to the more extensive elucidation of this case. Interview with the leader of the Liberal Party Mihai Ghimpu, Speaker of Parliament during August 28, 2009 – December 28, 2010 and acting President of the Republic of Moldova between September 11, 2009 and December 28, 2010:
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– Does the national legislation oblige the Security and Intelligence Service (SIS) to inform the senior state officials about operations similar to the expulsion of the Turkish citizens before or after these are performed??
– Law No. 753 of 23.12.1999 on the Security and Intelligence Service of the Republic of Moldova.
Article 9. Obligations of the Service
The Service is obliged:
a) to inform the Parliament, the President of the Republic of Moldova, the Government and other authorities.
Law No. 619 of 31.10.1995 on the state security bodies.
Article 8. Obligations of the state security bodies
The state security bodies are obliged:
c) to regularly inform the public authorities about state security problems;
Article 25.
(5) The managers of the state society bodies bear personal responsibility for the opportunity, objectivity and exhaustive character of the presented information.
– Are there particular categories of events about which the SIS is obliged to inform beforehand? Does the event of September 6, 2018 form part of such a category?
– There are no express regulations in this regard.
- Which of the persons holding high-ranking posts in the state are informed mandatorily?
– The President of the Republic of Moldova, the Speaker of Parliament and the Prime Minister are the main beneficiaries of the information that is daily presented by the SIS, based on the following provisions:
Law No. 753 of 23.12.1999 on the Security and Intelligence Service of the Republic of Moldova.
Article 9. Obligations of the Service
The Service is obliged:
a) to inform the Parliament, the President of the Republic of Moldova, the Government and other authorities.
Law No. 618 of 31.10.1995 on state security
Article 10. President of the Republic of Moldova
The President of the Republic of Moldova:
a) exercises the general management of the state security ensuring activity and is responsible for the state of security in the state in the limits of his legal powers;
Article 11. Government
The Government:
b) exercises the management of the state security ensuring activity of the public administration authorities.
Law No. 753 of 23.12.1999 on the Security and Intelligence Service of the Republic of Moldova.
Article 1. Security and Intelligence Service of the Republic of Moldova
(2) The activity of the Security and Intelligence Service of the Republic of Moldova is subject to parliamentary control.
Law No. 120 of 21.09.2017 on the prevention and combating of terrorism
Article 6. Authorities with terrorism prevention and combating powers
(1) The President of the Republic of Moldova coordinates the whole terrorism prevention and combating activity.
– Are the reports presented to senior state officials identical by content and volume or different, depending on the SIS’s level of subornation to one authority or another?
– There are no express regulations in the legislation concerning the content and volume of the presented information, except for the provisions of Article 25 of Law No. 619 of 31.10.1995 on the state security bodies:
(5) The managers of the state society bodies bear personal responsibility for the opportunity, objectivity and exhaustive character of the presented information. The information is presented within 24 hours.
– What responsibility is borne by the senior state officials in case of operations with negative national and international effects? Are the responsibilities equal or different, depending on the SIS’s level of subornation to one authority or another?
– There are no express regulations in this regard. However, under Law No. 753 of 23.12.1999 on the Security and Intelligence Service of the Republic of Moldova, Article 1, paragraph (2), the activity of the Security and Intelligence Service of the Republic of Moldova is subject to parliamentary control. Consequently, the Speaker of Parliament, the chairman of the commission on national security, defense and public order and the head of the sub-commission for SIS control are responsible for the exercise of parliamentary control. Any person bears responsibility for the committed illegalities (abuse of power, misuse of authority) and can be held criminally accountable.
– How much information should the SIS present for the senior state officials to be sufficiently informed?
– There are no express regulations in this regard. Information is presented depending on the situation on a particular day.
– In what cases are the senior state officials obliged (need) to ask for additional information or parliamentary hearings after the event, as it happened in the aforementioned case?
– Under Article 20, paragraph (1) of Law No. 753 of 23.12.1999 on the Security and Intelligence Service of the Republic of Moldova, the control over the activity of the Service is exercised by the Parliament, the Prosecutor’s Offices and courts of law, according to their powers.
Under Article 20, paragraph (2), the Service presents reports on its activity, in the agreed way, annually and, if necessary, at request to Parliament, in a plenary meeting, to the President of the Republic of Moldova and to the Government. The senior state officials can ask for additional information in all the cases, if they consider necessary.
– What possibilities and obligations do these have, according to the legislation, to intervene before and after the event, if they consider necessary?
– Law No 619 of 31.10.1995 on the state security bodies.
Article 25. Control exercised by Parliament
(1) The Parliament exercises control over the activity of the state security bodies by hearings and parliamentary inquiries, examination of report presented by the managers of the state security bodies in public or closed meetings and by the participation by the chairman of the Parliament’s commission on national security or its deputy chairman in the meetings of the board of the Security and Intelligence Service of the Republic of Moldova,.
(2) Permanent control over the activity of the state security bodies is exercised by the Parliament through the commission on national security.
(3) The state security bodies annually present activity reports to the President of the Republic of Moldova, the Parliament and the Government.
(4) The state security bodies respond, in the way set down in the legislation, to the interpellations of the standing, special and inquiry commissions of Parliament and to those of the MPs.
(6) The members of Parliament who, based on interpellations, receive information from the state security bodies bear responsibility, in accordance with the law, for revealing information that contains a state secret.
The law enforcement agencies are independent in taking decisions.
The Parliament’s Regulations (Law No. 797 of 02.04.1996)
Article 271. Sub-commission for parliamentary control over the activity of the Security and Intelligence Service
(1) A sub-commission for parliamentary control over the activity of the Security and Intelligence Service
works as part of the commission on national security, defense and public order.
(2) A representative of the parliamentary opposition is elected as head of the sub-commission.
Currently, the sub-commission is headed by unaffiliated MP Oleg Ogor, de facto of the parliamentary majority.
(3) The sub-commission supervises the observance by the SIS of the legality, basic human rights and freedoms and democratic order in the state, ensures the political non-involvement of the SIS.
(4) The sub-commission examines how the SIS obeys the provisions of the Constitution and the laws that regulate the activity of the SIS, examines the cases of violation of the Constitution, laws, constitutional rights and freedoms of the citizens.
Article 30. Conducting of inquiries by standing commissions.
In this case, the commission on national security, defense and public order led by Eugen Carpov, MP of the parliamentary majority.
(1) Any standing commission can open an inquiry, according to its powers, into the activity of the public administration bodies.
(2) To obtain a consent, the commission will present a written application that is approved by a majority of votes of its members. This will specify the problems that represent the object of the inquiry, its goals, the necessary means and when the commission will present its report to Parliament.
(3) The Speaker of Parliament will submit the application to the Standing Bureau for approval and will inform the commission about the approval or rejection of the application.
(4) To conduct its inquiry, the standing commission will be able to invite any person with an official position for interaction.
Article 321. Constitution of the commissions of inquiry. The Parliament can also constitute commissions of inquiry.
Article 33. The way in which the commissions of inquiry are set up
At the request of a parliamentary group or a group of MPs that represent at least 5% of the elected MPs, Parliament can decide to set up a commission of inquiry by the votes of the majority of attending MPs in accordance with Articles 14-28, Article 30, paragraph (4) - (9) and Article.32, paragraph (2).
– Did you witness similar cases when you held high-ranking posts in the state and what role did you play in solving them?
– I didn’t experience such situations while holding such posts and in general throughout the period of activity of the SIS. The case of expulsion of the Turkish citizens has no precedent. As I mentioned above, the senior state officials daily receive secret information about the crime situation, security, etc. Even if the SIS reports to Parliament, the President also receives such information and this shows that the whole current administration “knew” about this expulsion operation.
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IPN note:
Ex-President of the Republic of Moldova Vladimir Voronin avoided answering IPN’s questions concerning the same case.
