Two civil society representatives, chosen by the Government to fill a vacant position in the Superior Council of Prosecutors (SCP), will undergo the evaluation of the Pre-Vetting Commission in the coming period. These candidates are Radu MÎRZA, expert in justice, rule of law and human rights, and Mihail SORBALO, university lecturer in Public Law at the Faculty of Law at ULIM. Today, the Commission has provided the candidates with the 5-year Declaration form. The completed Declaration, along with any additional documents as required, should be returned to the Commission via email by September 20, 2023.
The 5-year Declaration is a document that includes information on the candidates’ personal assets and interests, as well as the list of close persons in the judiciary, prosecution and public service, as stipulated in Article 9, paragraph (2) of Law no. 26/2022 on some measures related to the selection of candidates for the position of member in the self-administration bodies of judges and prosecutors. If the candidates were not previously subjects of declaration under Law No. 133/2016 shall complete declarations for each of the last five years (period 2018 – 2022) for which an annual declaration was not submitted.
Upon receiving the declarations, the Pre-Vetting Commission will analyze the income and properties of the candidates and their families, based on extensive research of relevant evaluation data collected from public information systems, gathered from individuals and legal entities, and through subsequent communication with the candidates.
For the purpose of advance information, on September 6, 2023, the Commission has provided the candidates a completed sample of 5-year Declaration, allowing them more time to gather the necessary information to complete the document. Additionally, the candidates have received the Ethics Questionnaire for completion, which, unlike the 5-year Declaration, is voluntary. The Ethics Questionnaire requests primary information regarding the candidate’s ethical integrity and should be submitted to the Commission by September 20, 2023. The template for the 5-year Declaration, answers to frequently asked questions related to its completion, as well as the Ethics Integrity Questionnaire, can be accessed on the Commission’s website at https://vetting.md/chestionare/ .
It should be noted that, according to Article 9, paragraph (2) of Law no. 26/2022, the failure to submit the 5-year Declaration and annual declarations when relevant, within the specified timeframe, constitutes grounds for the Commission to determine that the candidate has not passed the evaluation.
Note: The position of a civil society member of the SCP, for which the two candidates are aspiring, became vacant in April 2023. According to the Prosecutor’s Office Law, the SCP is composed of 10 members. Five SCP members are elected by the General Assembly of Prosecutors from among prosecutors in office, one from the General Prosecutor’s Office, and four from territorial and specialized prosecutor’s offices. Additionally, four members are selected through competition from civil society, as follows: one by the President of the Republic of Moldova, one by the Parliament, one by the Government, and one by the Academy of Sciences of Moldova. At the same time, the ex officio member of the SCP is the President of the SCM (including an interim president).
