There are tens and even hundreds of cases that were handled by order in Moldova. As a result of these, the people were dispossessed of property, such as shareholdings in companies, real estate and money. No one will learn about these cases from investigations as they were like instruments used by famous people who organized these dispossessions with the assistance of prosecutors, investigation officers and judges. These are not political cases, but are cases of unjust enrichment. This instrument that implied the use of representatives of the law enforcement agencies for obtaining of benefits laid at the basis of cases started by order and the politicians were involved in the meantime according to necessities, lawyer Ștefan Gligor said in a public debate entitled “Political” criminal cases: protagonists, methods, goals, consequences” that was held by IPN News Agency.
Ștefan Gligor noted that the authors of these cases of dispossession are known, including by prosecutors, investigation officers and some of the lawyers, but these will never be held accountable. Not much will be known about these cases as, in order to obtain details, the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office and the Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime and Special Cases should be audited since their founding, together with the National Anticorruption Center. This wasn’t done and will probably be never done.
Moreover, said the expert, there are judges who, by the influence exerted on the bodies of the Superior Council of Magistracy, were forced to leave the system for particular illegal decisions. “Notorious people are behind these orchestrated and paid attacks. Regrettably, there is no one who could investigate these cases as the prosecution service is extremely weak and continues to be vitiated,” stated Ștefan Gligor.
According to him, this phenomenon of using the prosecution service as an efficient instrument for obtaining tangible assets was at the basis. “Later, some of the heads of criminal organizations started to interact with the political class, realizing that large schemes that bring a lot of money can be implemented only in cooperation with politicians. The politicians thus started to be involved depending on needs as the institutions were very weak in the 1990s and could be influenced sectorially. Afterward, after an authoritarian leader came in 2001 and took hold of a number of branches and state institutions, continuous cooperation was needed with the political class,” said Ștefan Gligor.
The lawyer considers the largest part of the criminal cases managed by order, by bribing prosecutors, investigation officers and judges all over the country, will remain anonymous. “There were not many people who had the courage to defend themselves. Things in the Republic of Moldova stand badly and acts of grand corruption are witnessed right now. Video and audio recordings appear, but they are ignored by the prosecution service for the reason that this is not evidence that can be handled,” he stated.
“This shows that we are not a mature society. We are a volatile society concentrated a lot on survival, not on the building of institutions. We haven’t yet realized the connection between the extraordinarily high level of corruption in the country and our living standards”.
The debate “Political” criminal cases: protagonists, methods, goals, consequences” was the 140th installment of the series of debates “Developing political culture through public debates” that is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
