The members of the Superior Council of Magistracy (SCM) call on their mate Iulian Muntean, who was recently appointed by Parliament, to resign as Council member for the reason that he didn’t inform about the fact that he is investigated in a criminal case started over acts of corruption. Minister of Justice Veronica Mihailov-Moraru made a similar request, IPN reports.

On September 20, the press reported that SCM member Iulian Muntean is investigated for passive corruption. He doesn’t deny the fact that he was accused in a criminal case started in 2018. Apparently, he didn’t inform the pre-vetting commission of this and didn’t present evidence showing that he attempted to find out at what stage the case is now. The SCM members said that as the whole society, they didn’t know about this until September 20.

The SCM expressed its concern about such developments, noting that it is inacceptable for a member of the Council to avoid the extraordinary assessment with its clear and rigorous requirements. As Iulian Muntean didn’t provide credible explanations about the circumstances that made him not inform about the fact that he is investigated in a criminal case, the Council believes the optimal solution is for this to resign.

For her part, Minister of Justice Veronica Mihailov-Moraru said she welcomes the fact that parliamentary hearings will be held on the issue to clarify all the circumstances and to take the appropriate measures. It is yet definite that if a SCM member didn’t inform the pre-vetting commission about his investigation in a case of corruption, his integrity is questionable. So as not to discredit the image and efforts made to do the justice sector reform on the whole, he should resign.

Following the press reports, Iulian Muntean said the so-called criminal case was fabricated by order of the regime of Plahotniuc as an intimidation method. This case wasn’t indicated in any of the databases managed by the state institutions or the pre-vetting commission would have learned about it. “After the elections of February 2019, there has been no information about this case. As far as I know, no case (person) of the 80 was sent to court, not to mention a conviction,” stated Iulian Muntean.

On September 7, Iulian Muntean was named member of the Superior Council of Magistracy from among non-judges by Parliament. He is a lawyer and earlier taught at a number of universities in Moldova.