Maia Sandu said it is important to ensure a transparent process of selecting the candidate for the post of prospector general. “As the system was corrupt, abused, abusive, it is harder to find honest persons who will also be good managers and specialists as the prosecutor general has two immediate tasks – to launch the prosecution service reform, to clean up the system and make it functional, and to achieve results in the case of grand corruption,” stated the Premier.
“The expectations in society are enormous. A lot of people have such expectations of us, those from the Government, and ask us “Why the corrupt functionaries weren’t arrested?” They don’t understand that the Government does not have such a right or responsibility. We cannot go and arrest those who are corrupt. There is an institution to which these tasks were entrusted,” the Premier stated in an interview for RFE/RL’s Moldovan Service that is quoted by IPN.
Premier Sandu said the law on the prosecution service is ultimately adopted by Parliament. “To be able to open the doors to someone who does not have Moldovan nationality, we should change the law. Evidently, the votes of the MPs of the ACUM Bloc are not enough and we need the votes of the Socialists. If we do not manage to persuade them, the current provision that stipulates the prosecutor general should be a citizen of the Republic of Moldova will remain unchanged. But there is sufficient space, especially because we opened the door to people from civil society who didn’t work half of their life in the prosecution service,” stated Maia Sandu.
She also said that the next prosecutor general will have to very swiftly present the results achieved in the fight against grand corruption and to initiate a profound reform of the prosecution service. “For us, ensuring conditions for a true contest and for choosing the most suitable person for this post is a serious challenge,” stated the Premier, noting this should be upright and with an irreproachable reputation.
As to the justice system functionaries, Maia Sandu said they will see how these did their job and if these are honest persons who didn’t take abusive decisions and didn’t allow to be engaged in political and economic games. “If there is insufficient force for self-cleanup inside, we will consider the possibility of choosing the best judges with the assistance of an assessment commission that will consist of national and foreign experts who will analyze each case apart – who and what decisions took during the past two years, for example. If abusive, illegal decisions are identified, these people will have to leave the system,” stated the Premier.
