VIDEO // Moldovan president calls for extending justice vetting

President Maia Sandu urges the parliament, Justice Ministry, Superior Council of Magistracy (CSM) and other responsible authorities to urgently review, within a working group, the vetting mechanism, in order to extend the categories of judges subject to external evaluation and to expedite internal performance evaluation procedures. At a news conference held today, the head of state emphasized that, despite progress made in recent years in justice reform, serious practices of delaying corruption and organized crime cases persisted, indicating the maintenance of elements of the old, corrupt system.

Maia Sandu made these statements in response to the reactions following the adoption of a legislative initiative by the parliament concerning the extension of extraordinary judicial evaluation.

‘’In recent years, we have made considerable efforts to clean and reform justice and to ensure more efficient conditions for combating corruption. I believe we can say that in some areas of justice, things have started to work better. Improvements have been noted, including due to the fact that some judges and prosecutors are doing their job honestly, in accordance with the law, and not shying away from responsibility. Unfortunately, there are still areas in the system where some actors in justice continue to collaborate with criminals and strive to maintain elements of the old, corrupt system. It is enough to look at the duration of cases’ examinations, especially those of high resonance,’’ said Maia Sandu.

The head of state invoked more examples of high-profile cases that had been pending in the courts for years, some of which risk being time-barred. They include cases involving organized crime groups, drugs’ trafficking, embezzlement, bank fraud and money laundering, including cases related to the banking fraud and scams at Banca de Economii (Savings Bank), examined since 2013. In some cases, only a few witnesses have been heard during many years, a situation that, in Maia Sandu's opinion, indicates deliberate delays.

‘’I want to bring just a few examples, based on publicly available information. A case involving an organized crime group has been under trial for 11 years. Only four years remain until the statute of limitations expires, as happened in the case of the 'Laundromat' file.

Another case, involving an organized crime group accused of drug trafficking, has been in court for seven years. A file concerning the embezzlement of foreign property has been under examination for 11 years. A similar case has been in court for nine years. Bank fraud and money laundering cases have been delayed for years.

A case regarding the scams at Banca de Economii has been under trial since 2013. Other cases involving banking fraud date back to 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and so on. In one case, only three witnesses were heard over three years, and in another, only five witnesses over five years. You can draw your own conclusions, but from my point of view, these examples represent clear proof that some judges deliberately allow delays in cases’ examinations, and we can assume that this is done to obtain illegal benefits,’’ said the president.

The head of state criticized the lack of firm responses on behalf of the self-administration bodies of the judicial system, noting that the CSM should have adopted a much harsher stance towards such behaviors. She warned that, due to the irresponsibility of some judges, there is a risk that some episodes of banking fraud files may not be completed.

‘’What is happening with these cases? Who sanctions such behaviors? I have not seen firm reactions on behalf the self-administration bodies. The Superior Council of Magistracy should have taken a much more serious attitude towards these situations. When we started cleaning up the system, we hoped that, along with the extraordinary evaluation in key justice institutions, the ordinary evaluation would complement this effort. However, we see that this is not happening. The sabotage and corruption schemes in the justice system have not disappeared,’’ said Maia Sandu.





IFrame

The Moldovan president declared support for the legislative initiative adopted by Parliament, which involves including in the extraordinary evaluation process some judges from the first instance who, since 2017, had examined corruption and related offenses cases. According to the head of state, this measure is necessary, but insufficient.

‘’We must move forward with firm measures, so that we have an integral and efficient justice, and combating corruption produces concrete results. Therefore, I consider the legislative initiative of the parliament, adopted yesterday, appropriate. Through this initiative, it is proposed to include in the extraordinary evaluation process also judges from the first instance, those who, since 2017, have examined or are examining corruption and related crimes. I believe we must go further, especially since the 2025 extension report of the European Commission recommends amending legislation, in order to provide for mandatory external evaluation of all judges specialized in anti-corruption, including those in the specialized first-instance college, by a relevant external evaluation committee,’’ said the president.

The head of state asked the parliament, Justice Ministry, Superior Council of Magistracy and other responsible authorities to urgently analyze extending the categories of judges subject to external evaluation.

‘’I urge the parliament, Justice Ministry, Superior Council of Magistracy and other responsible authorities to urgently analyze, within a working group, and initiate measures through reviewing the vetting mechanism, in order to broaden the categories of judges subject to extraordinary external evaluation and/or accelerating the internal procedures of the college within the CSM regarding the evaluation of judges' performances. Justice reform is extremely important both for the work of the state and for our process of joining the European Union. If the measures taken so far prove to be insufficient, we must go further, correct, accelerate, and amplify this reform. And that's what we will do,’’ concluded Maia Sandu.

The parliament on December 29 adopted the Law No.333. It concerns the amendment of normative acts aimed at enhancing transparency in the administration of the judicial system and the prosecution and enhancing the integrity of judges who examine corruption cases.

The legislative amendments relate to the external evaluation process. The list of subjects has been completed with a new category - judges from the Anti-corruption Specialized College of the Chisinau Court and candidates for this college. The amendments also propose to extend the deadline for the external evaluation of judges and prosecutors until August 31, 2026.

The document also provides for extending the transition period, in which the justice minister exercises the role of ex officio member in CSP until January 1, 2028. The authors say that this is necessary, in order to ensure the stability and predictability of the reform process, without however modifying the constitutional balance of relations between the executive power, legislative power and the prosecution system. However, according to an amendment signed by MPs Veronica Rosca and Igor Chiriac, the justice minister will not participate in the examination of appeals against the Discipline and Ethics College, as well as in the examination of disciplinary cases against the prosecutor general.