The chief anticorruption prosecutor is not a politician or an influencer and some of the statements made by Veronica Dragalin are inadmissible, said chairman of the Party “Dignity and Truth Platform” Dinu Plîngău. According to him, the head of the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office (APO) should have temperate rhetoric and should deliver more results. For his part, MP of the Party of Actin and Solidarity (PAS) Adrian Cheptonar said the justice sector reform and the fight against corruption in Moldova are intricate and results can be seen together with the reformation of the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office by the model of Romania’s NAD, IPN reports.
In an audio recording made public on Wednesday, APO chief Veronica Dragalin tells the prosecutors that she is impatient to personally enter their homes with persons in balaclavas, at 6am, to arrest them in the presence of their children and spouses.
“Any search should take place based on respect for human dignity. Even with regard to the biggest criminal in the Republic of Moldova, one cannot behave like this towards their families, children, etc. This is not ethical. During a year, the rhetoric was that Veronica Dragalin trusted all her mates at the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office and the absence of documents was the only obstacle that prevented them from punishing the thieves in the Republic of Moldova. I’m bothered by a public communication aspect. Veronica Dragalin is not a politician or an influencer. She has access to a lot of information and such statements cannot be made,” Dinu Plîngău stated in the program “Shadow Cabient” on JurnalTV channel, noting that he would like to see more deeds and less words.
For their part, representatives of the government said they realize society’s wish to see results in the fight against corruption, but the system puts up resistance and the unsuitable persons cannot be dismissed so easily.
“Society expects that everything will happen quickly. But we must realize that we are not a democracy with anticorruption traditions of hundreds of years. We must deal with a rotten system. We cannot now fully remove all the persons. These people have a special status. They cannot be simply dismissed. Actions, investigations are needed. Veronica Dragalin realizes who and what roles plays in an anticorruption system. She knows the toxic persons from the system. From her viewpoint, it would be easier to reform the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office by turning it into a NAD,” said Adrian Cheptonar.
“This scandal once again shows that the system is not reformed. The legal education obtained by Veronica Dragalin in the U.S failed before the harsh realities witnessed in the Republic of Moldova. Surely, Veronica Dragalin should not behave like this. This is what absence of experience leads to. You are definitely angry when you come with good intentions, trust the political team that invested hope in you and you cannot do something. The problem of the justice sector reform in Moldova is that they fight against the people, not against the system,” said political commentator Anatol Țăranu.
Veronica Dragalin confirmed the authenticity of the audio recording, saying that it happened in the June 7 meeting with the whole staff of the APO in the NAC building and this didn’t involve persons from outside the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office.
