Setback in Justice Reform: Supreme Court's Surprising Ruling

Weekly Roundup August 13, 2023

Another Setback in Justice Reform

This week, the Supreme Court of Justice SCJ announced a surprise ruling where they overturned the results of the pre-vetting commission of Judges and Prosecutors. In the ruling the SCJ rejected the outcome of the pre-vetting of the 21 candidates who passed (out of many who did not) and were set to be appointed to the Superior Council of Magistracy and Superior Council of Prosecutors. The seating of these pre-vetted candidates is critical for these two bodies to begin “Vetting” of all the currently working judges and prosecutors in the system (including those on the Supreme Court). If you recall, the final bill laying out the vetting process was passed by Parliament on July 31st.

Importantly, the SCJ did not attempt to overturn the whole pre-vetting structure. This structure, which included both local and international experts, was already approved by the Constitutional Court and the Venice Commission. Instead the SCJ found what they called “irregularities” in the decisions of the vetting commission applying to the candidates who passed and those who were rejected. Essentially, they threw the results of the process out on a series of technicalities which they bundled into one decision that rejected everyone and called for a new process to begin.

Responding to the decision, Prime Minister Recean stated:

“I want to tell these citizens, the corrupt minority of judges, that you didn't really surprise us. You continue these efforts, resist attempts at self-cleansing. I looked, there was some kind of “copy-paste” and, in fact, they tried more to demonstrate disobedience. You won't succeed. We will continue to pass laws to allow the system to self-cleanse,”

By “copy-paste” the Prime Minister was accusing the judges of utilizing reasoning that was written by outside parties.

Head of the Parliamentary Legal Committee Olesea Stamate stated that this is a last ditch attempt by judges to stop the vetting process just as it passed into law by sabotaging the legal bodies responsible for the vetting process.

Valeriu Pasa of anti-corruption NGO Watchdog MD pointed his finger at Olesea Stamate as well as corrupt judges in a fiery statement saying:

“GKChP [Soviet reference meaning coup d'état] of the judicial system of Moldova in two acts. Yesterday the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office was shut down. Today they covered the changes in the CSM [Superior Council of Magistracy] and CSP [Superior Council of Prosecutors]. PAS, what do you say now? Let me guess! Olesya Stamate has already written to you in internal chats that this is the fault of the Constitutional Court? Even children laugh at your naivety! It’s not for nothing that the Plaha is already lubricating his skis in order to return to the levers of power,”

Note: Valeriu Pasa is a highly respected expert on anti-corruption and judicial reform both inside and outside of Moldova. Highly charged statements like this, and those he made along with other civil society voices in the recent actions to restrict the powers of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s office which we covered last week add another dimension to this issue. On one hand, the President, Government and Parliament are struggling to reform a judiciary that does not want reform. On the other, experts like Valeriu Pasa believe that elements within PAS are hindering this effort.

Many other statements followed. The Minister of Justice said that the vetting commission is legal and implied that the ruling would not be followed since the Constitutional Court already ruled in favor of pre-vetting and vetting. Meanwhile the Association of Judges called out political statements saying the infringe on the independence of the judiciary.

Meanwhile, the EU Delegation, US Embassy and Dutch Embassy issued a joint statement saying:

"The reform of the judiciary is a key element on Moldova's path to EU membership. The work of an independent commission to evaluate the integrity of candidates for positions of members in self-government bodies of judges and prosecutors is the basis of judicial reform in Moldova. […] The Commission has demonstrated professionalism and thoroughness, and we commend its work throughout the process. On August 1, the SCJ canceled the commission's decision and decided to re-test 21 candidates who did not pass the test. We hope that the commission will analyze the decision of the court in detail, applying its experience and professionalism in re-evaluating appeals in accordance with its independent mandate, national legislation, and European and international standards,”

President Sandu gave an in-depth interview to ZdG on justice reform which is well worth reading in full. In it she called the decision of the SCJ “illegal.” Here is a short excerpt of her longer and very forceful statement:

The fight we are fighting is a fight for survival. It is about our survival as a democratic state with a future in the European Union, which can only be achieved by reforming the judiciary and reducing corruption. On the other side of the barricade, there are the corrupt judges and prosecutors, who have obtained undeserved benefits all these years and who cling to the rotten system built by them too, because they fear that otherwise they will have to answer for the abuses committed. They have become wealthy and untouchable through injustice, and their goal is to keep it that way. They are supported by other individuals who wish to perpetuate corruption – criminal groups,

... Because the law says that only judges can definitively condemn judges. And apparently, the justice system has decided to go against all citizens and fight to the death in favor of criminals. They hide behind the independence of the judiciary. But the independence of the judiciary is to enforce the law, not to protect the illegalities of the judges.

So What’s Happening?

The process of justice reform over the last 2 years has been progressing but slowly. In Moldova elected politicians cannot hire or fire judges or in most cases prosecutors. This power is left to the Superior Council of Magistracy and Superior Council of Prosecutors. These bodies are meant to be independent and assure that the judiciary is not politically controlled. PAS has worked methodically with the Venice Commission and international experts to find a way of pre-vetting new candidates to these bodies so that the judiciary could begin the process of cleansing itself. The ruling from the SCJ is an attempt to derail or at least delay this process. By all appearances the promise of vetting the property and integrity of judges got too close to reality and the judiciary struck back.

At the same time, we are seeing cracks in the pro-reform camp. Valeriu Pasa is now openly attacking Olesea Stamate and accusing her of being behind some of these delaying tactics. Meanwhile, Anti-Corruption Prosecutor Veronica Dragalin has also spoken out against reforms promoted by Stamate that disempowered her office.

So these are two stories that are intertwined. One is about the massive struggle to reform the corrupt judiciary. The other is about fractures within the reform coalition. We’ll be following this story and how it develops in both directions in the coming weeks.

Political News

Normally August is a quiet month in Moldovan politics as parliament is not in session and many people across the country enjoy Europe’s vacation month. Not so this year as Moldova prepares for local elections. Last week the Central Election Commission CEC set the date for local elections as November 5th. This means that the campaign season begins on October 6th. Campaigning by parties and candidates is prohibited before this date.

Traditionally, the CEC is a relatively low key institution tasked with running elections in Moldova. This year however the CEC is likely to take a very prominent role in the campaign because of a new “law on political advertising” passed last year by PAS and which came into effect in January 2023. Under this law, all public announcements “of public interest” made by the presidency, parliament, government, city and local governments and even NGOs made during the 3 months leading up to an election must be pre-approved by the CEC before they are made public. So what falls under the umbrella of public interest? Quite a lot apparently…

a) constitutional values ​​and principles;
b) fundamental human rights and freedoms;
c) healthy lifestyle and health protection;
d) the rights and obligations of individuals, including foreign citizens and stateless persons, who have a place of residence or a place of temporary residence on the territory of the Republic of Moldova;
e) rights and obligations of public institutions and central and/or local public authorities, conditions for access to and use of public services provided free of charge by public institutions and public authorities;
f) environmental protection;
g) informing citizens during electoral periods about elections and/or referendums in accordance with the electoral legislation;
h) legal/regulatory provisions that, due to novelty and social impact, require additional information;
i) decisions or actions on matters of public safety;
j) prevention of risks or damage of any nature to human health or natural heritage;
k) renewable energy sources and/or integrity of energy resources;
l) social protection of the population;
m) promoting the consumption of domestic products;
n) linguistic, cultural and historical heritage of the Republic of Moldova;
o) cultural and/or social diversity;
p) other values ​​and/or goals of public interest provided for by this law and/or the Public Interest Communications Plan.

Explaining how this works, and (inadvertently?) highlighting how incredibly bizarre the rules are, a spokesmen for the CEC stated:

“For example, if there was a pandemic now, the Ministry of Health would not be able to inform citizens about the need to wear masks without coordinating this message with the CEC,”

The CEC has said that all statements should be submitted to them via their website and they will evaluate them and return a positive or negative response within 6 days. It seems to go without saying that 6 days is a long time in the event of a crisis (or pandemic). Also, the CEC traditionally has a fairly small staff. With this change they will be pre-approving all electoral and “public interest” statements in the country for the next 3 months. Given that, 6 days seems optimistic.

Chisinau Mayor Ion Ceban accused the CEC of attempting to influence the election in favor of PAS and noted that the Primaria (city hall) has been prohibited in some cases from communicating their work. Specifically the CEC banned a flier the Primaria created titled “1000+ Important Projects for Chisinau” which touted the accomplishments of the Primaria over the last few years. Responding Mayor Ceban stated:

“For several days, I will refrain from publishing information about the work of the Chisinau City Hall and from commenting until the Central Electoral Commission gives a clear answer to the stupidity it invented. I want the same approach to be applied to all 896 city halls across the country, and to candidates who have started their campaign but are not yet registered. So far, the CEC is acting unilaterally, creating new regulations only to “get the Chisinau City Hall out of the way,”

Ok, What’s going on here?

It appears that either the law on advertising, or the CEC’s interpretation of that law, has created very complicated situation for political speech leading up to the election. It is true that a pamphlet titled “1000+ Important Projects for Chisinau” is only thinly disguised campaigning and that the official campaign season has not started. At the same time, how is this different from any politician touting their accomplishments? If the Minister of Health goes on TV and announces a new hospital is this in breach of the political speech rules here? At the very least there are open questions as to how this will be applied and whether or not it will be applied fairly between parties and candidates.

At the same time, it is hard to understand how this policy will crack down on the real problem in illegal political financing and communications being conducted by Russian propagandists and the Shor Party. By having a “pre-approval” system the CEC will be inundated with messages that they have to rule on. What about the messages put out that are not submitted for approval? This appears like a classic case of Moldovan law attempting to audit everyone at once rather than taking a targeted “complaints / violations based” approach.

Other Political News

Here is a quick roundup of the other political stories making headlines this week:

• The Socialist Party announces Adrian Albu as their candidate for Chisinau mayor. Igor Dodon announced Albu as the candidate saying “we will win the elections.” Experts disagree. Adrian Albu was a candidate on the Socialist party list in 2019 but did not get into parliament. He later took a seat in 2022 after a fellow MP passed away. Albu is almost totally unknown and political experts believe he is a sort of “sacrificial lamb” that indicates that the Socialist do not intend to seriously contest the election.

• PAS Party reverses position on their controversial candidate for the mayor of Negureni. The party recently announced their candidate for mayor… much to the surprise of the serving mayor who is also a member of the PAS party. The serving mayor gave a press conference where he wondered aloud if he had been expelled from the party and no one told him about it. Popular actor Emilian Crețu, who is from the village in question, raised this issue on social media creating a scandal for PAS and calling the party out for abandoning their own serving mayor. After 2 weeks PAS changed direction saying only that "procedures weren't followed" and changing their support back to the current mayor.

• Parliament may convene for an extraordinary session August 16 - 17. Local press are citing sources that parliament may be recalled from August recess for this session. No topics have been announced and the recall has not been officially confirmed.

International Affairs and Security

The past week’s news in Moldovan international affairs has largely swirled around a country that we don’t hear about too much outside of stories about Ilan Shor - Israel. President Sandu hosted a delegation from Israel led by Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen. The President’s office stated that the meetings focused on improving trade relations and "joint efforts to fight corruption." Speaking directly to the question of Israel harboring Ilan Shor the Foreign Minister stated that:

“Our law enforcement agencies are cooperating very well. This issue is of a legal nature, so of course I cannot elaborate on this issue. But I can assure you that we treat such issues, as well as our bilateral relations in general, with the utmost seriousness and respect,”

In a move apparently timed to coincide with the visit, Israeli journalists released a short video documentary on how Ilan Shor lives in Israel. In it they visited his "luxurious villa in Caesarea" and attempted to talk to his neighbors and security guards about the fugitive oligarch. This resulted in a scuffle with the security guards who physically tried to prevent the journalists from filming. The report focused on reports of Shor’s various crimes as well as his attempts to overthrow the Moldovan government from his "luxurious villa in Caesarea." In a voiceover the journalists stated:

“For now, Shore is here. He uses the money of bank customers whom he deceived in Moldova, sits in expensive restaurants and drives expensive cars. From time to time he is seen here (a year ago in the Netanya shopping center). From a villa in Caesarea, he attacks the Moldovan government, which is trying to do everything so that the country, with all the reluctance of Russia, can join the EU,”

An additional complication in Moldovan-Israeli relations was discussed during the Foreign Minister’s visit regarding Israeli pilgrims. Every September tens of thousands of Hasidic Jews make pilgrimage to the burial location of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov in the small Ukrainian town of Umam. Israeli representatives asked the Moldovan authorities to assure safe passage of pilgrims on their journey this year. Moldova’s official response was that the country will happily facilitate passage subject to Ukraine’s willingness to receive the pilgrims.

This is not a turn of phrase or diplomatic nicety. Pilgrims go to Umam in September regardless of conditions of hardship or war. During COVID this resulted in a minor diplomatic scandal where multiple planeloads of pilgrims flew to Chisinau with onward flights to Ukraine booked… but without vaccine certificates or tests to enter Ukraine. The pilgrims became stranded in Chisinau’s airport and some attempted to break out and cross the border on foot. Ukraine announced this week that they are considering canceling visa-free travel for Israelis and will make a decision in the coming weeks. In reporting by the Kyiv Post Ukrainian officials cite multiple issues behind the decision including Israel’s "unfriendly actions against Ukraine and a pro-Russian position in the international arena." They also note that Israel is asking that Ukraine guarantee the safety of these tens of thousands of pilgrims in a war-zone and that Ukraine simply cannot do this.

All of this is unlikely to change the pilgrimage itself. Even in 2022 numbers of pilgrims did not diminish. Whatever the diplomatic wranglings.

Other International Affairs and Security News

Here’s a quick roundup of other stories driving the news this week:

• Moldova will open an embassy in New Delhi India by the end of the year. This was announced by Minister of Agriculture Bolea after he returned from a trip to India. Speaking about the new embassy the Minister stated:

“This will help to significantly develop our export potential and help business. The fact that we still do not have an embassy in India, I think, was an oversight of the previous governments, who did not see the potential in developing trade relations with India,”

• The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed regrets to the Russian embassy after a man driving a Mercedes crashed into the gate of the embassy. The man subsequently fled, leading the police on a high-speed chase and hitting 2 more cars before being apprehended near Străşeni. No motive or reason was offered for the erratic behavior.

• Russia launched missile strikes against the Ukrainian port of Izmail. These strikes are a continuation of Russia’s attempts to disrupt Ukrainian grain exports.

• Six wagons of a train carrying Ukrainian grain through Moldova to the Port of Reni derailed when the tracks failed due to extreme heat. There were no injuries. The derailment occurred on August 5th and all repairs were conducted by August 8th including laying 150 m of new track. Moldovan railways deployed multiple work crews and cranes to effect a rapid repair and assure the continued delivery of grain.

Photo Source Agora.md

• US and Romania deliver military aid to Moldova. The US donated $3 million dollars in aid delivered on a C130 flown into Chisinau. The Romanian army donated helmets, body armor and SUVs. US Congressman Doug Lambourne of the House Strategic Forces Committee was in Moldova and stated:

“All around us, there is compelling evidence of a strong partnership between the US and Moldova. This assistance allows us to modernize the armed forces of Moldova and increase the country's ability to defend its sovereignty,”

Shor Party News….

It is unfortunate to dedicate an entire section to one political party’s various maneuvers, especially when such a party legally does not exist. That said, the sheer volume of news related to Shor’s various schemes and political machinations does not neatly fit into any other format except to dedicate a section to a roundup of what is going on with their various political, economic and criminal schemes. We’ll do this as a rapid fire roundup of the key stories of Shor and his various associates of the past week:

• Anti Corruption Police CNA raided the offices of former Socialist Party MP Vasilie Bolea, who has since defected to the Shor affiliated “Renaissance Party.” The searches concerned a relative of another Renaissance member and former Socialist MP, Irina Lozovan. Her relative, an unnamed Ocnița District Councilor was later detained in the act of delivering a $30,000 bribe to the mayor of Ocnița. Apparently, the Renaissance representative offered a bribed of 2 million lei to the mayor in order to change parties from Socialist to Renaissance. The bribe would come in 2 payments of 1 million lei (approx. $56,000). One was for the mayor directly, the next would be in the form of investments in the town.

• The Socialist Party responded with a statement condemning the bribery and lauding their mayor for honesty in turning to the authorities.

“Information about attempts to bribe our activists to transfer them to other political formations has been directly confirmed. It is extremely low that former members of our team, whom we fully trusted, were involved in the process of attacking the Party of Socialists. The Renaissance clone party, created by fugitive convicted criminal Ilan Shor to destroy the PSRM, the largest opposition parliamentary party in Moldova, works hand in hand with President Maia Sandu and the PAS party,”

The attempts at conflating Shor and PAS are at best confusing. More so when Igor Dodon followed up with another statement saying:

“Oddly enough, the pressure comes from both the PAS and the opposition, from the Renaissance party, in fact Shor's party. We have repeatedly suggested to them - let's act as a united front against Maia Sandu. Our goal is to overthrow this government. Unfortunately, we see that Shor's activists are trying to lure the socialists over to them for money. Once again I call on the so-called colleagues in the opposition to direct all your energy and efforts against Maia Sandu and PAS. The opposition should not fight among themselves,”

Clearly Mr. Dodon cannot decide if Shor and President Sandu are allies… or if he wants to ally with Shor against Sandu. The Socialists had an honest mayor here but they are continuing to bleed members as various Shor affiliated factions bribe and convince officials to defect. Mr. Dodon seems to be floundering given the realization that the Kremlin’s focus is on Shor and that the Socialists themselves seems bereft of their traditional allies.

• Marina Tauber has again had her judicial restrictions relaxed. She was most recently confined to the city limits of Chisinau (previously jail, house arrest, release, jail, house arrest, release, etc, etc etc). Now she is free to move around Moldova and has said she is heading to Balti where she hopes to run for Mayor.

• Shor deputies challenge the ban on their holding office in the Constitutional Court. They say the ban "contradicts the principles of democracy and the rule of law”

• Alexei Lungu is named as the leader of the “Chance” Party. Mr. Lunga was formally a “journalist” working for TV stations affiliated with first Plahotniuc, then Dodon and later Shor. He said that the new party’s primary goal was giving people "money in hand" and attracting investors. Money in hand seems a little on the nose given…

• The Renaissance Party held a protest outside the People’s Assembly of Gagauzia last Friday in order to protest the body’s failure to approve Bashkan Hutsel’s “Dream Team” Executive Council. Residents of Comrat reported getting text messages offering 400 lei to attend the protest of 2000 lei to attending with “aggressive behavior.”

• The People's Assembly decried the attempts at political intimidation and voted on whether to consider Hutel’s Dream Team. The vote was 6 for, 16 against with 8 abstaining. The vote was a technical one with the primary objection being the structure of the executive team (e.g. the law doesn’t allow someone to be deputy governor and head of a specific department at the same time, etc). If they vote in the future to consider the Executive Team they will then vote person by person to confirm them to office. Bashkan Hutsel called this vote “political immaturity.”

• The People’s Assembly took up the issue again on August 11th voting 18 against with the rest abstaining. Technically, if the People’s Assembly rejects the Bashkan’s team twice she can dissolve the body and call elections. At the same time “technically” they have not voted on the team up or down but simply not added it to the agenda. So they are at an impasse of sorts…

• An investigation by Deschide.md showed the deplorable state of food and produce sold at Shor’s Merisor shops. “Merisor” is a chain of 45 stores and 87 “mobile markets” (basically shops in a truck) run by Ilan Shor which sell food at below market prices and in many cases below cost. They are billed as a Soviet-throwback social support shop for the poor. The investigation showed that the shops regularly sell food not fit for human consumption. In cases where the health department ANSA has raided the shops and identified expired food that must be disposed of workers of the store put the items back on the shelf after ANSA leaves or freeze them. Many items in the stores are sold with expiration dates (or just the expiration year) scratched off. ANSA has begun conducting more inspections at their central warehouses but has not yet announced sanctions. The network of stores has lost money each year of operations since they opened in 2017. Deschide.md discovered that these stores are about more than subsidized food for poor voters. They are part of broader scheme because the shops work on the basis of “membership cards.” These cards allow Shor access to the personal information of many of thousands of poor and elderly customers. This information has been used to contact shoppers about elections, announce protests, offer pay for protesting (often with food vouchers for the stores) and even steal identities to create fake donors in order to launder money into the party bypassing campaign finance rules.

Economics and Infrastructure News

Here’s a quick roundup of the stories driving the headlines this week:

• 3 new airlines announce flights from the Chisinau Airport. Southwind Airlines will operate charter flights from August 8 until November 1 to Antalya Airport in Turkey. Israir will offer flights Monday, Wedesday, Thursday and Sunday to Tel Aviv starting October 29. Azerbaijan Airlines will offer flights Monday and Friday to Baku starting September 15th.

• The Chisinau Airport management announced a doubling of the parking fee… then things got complicated. Initially the airport management announced that parking would double from 10 lei / hr to 20 lei / hr and from 100 lei / day to 200 lei / day. They justified it saying that right now 90-92% of airport revenue comes from the passenger tax which the government has voted to cut in half. Management says that most airports make around 25% of revenue from services including expensive parking and food and this is their goal. After the announcement, Prime Minister Recean immediately weighed in and called for the decision to be reversed. This led to a reversal whereby the first 3 hours will stay at the old rate and then the new rates will take over from 4 hours on. What is not stated in either plan is what to do with the Ukrainian cars that currently take up around 75% of the airport parking. Many have been left there since the early days of the war and have likely already gathered astronomical parking bills.

• New forecasts shows bleak economic future for Transnistria. Ukraine and Russia currently have a contract for the transit of Russian gas through Ukrainian infrastructure - this contract expires in December 2024. Gas transiting Ukraine currently supplies Slovakia, Austria, Hungary and Transnistria. Local experts, and experts at Columbia University have come to the conclusion that the extension of this transit contract is very unlikely. The Transnistrian economy is almost entirely built on this supply of “free” gas from Russia. 50% of the regions export revenue comes from the Moldovan Metallurgical Plant which uses the gas for creating rolled metal products. Another 20% of export revenue comes from the MoldGRES power plant that exports electricity to Moldova. Neither of these aging Soviet facilities would be competitive in market conditions where they did not receive vast supplies of free energy. Furthermore, while residents of Transnistria pay subsidized rates for energy - they do pay. So while the “authorities” receive gas for free they charge residents for it. This makes up a huge portion of the region’s budget. Taken together, an expiration of this contract, or a Ukrainian decision to stop transiting gas, would essentially end the viability of Transnistria as an economy or “state.” If Moldova completes the Vulcanesti-Chisinau high-voltage line before this happens then the right bank will not suffer major energy consequences from such a cutoff. At the same time, Moldova is ill prepared to suddenly face “reintegration” as a result of economic collapse in the region.

Whew!!! That was a long roundup! August is normally a very slow month in Moldova but as with so many other things since the beginning of the Russian invasion the normal rules of political life in the country no longer apply. Thanks for reading to the end and for continuing to follow all the twists and turns in so many important stories happening all at once!