After Gagauzia's Bashchana was detained, the leadership of the Executive Committee fell to Evghenia Gutu's first deputy, Ilia Uzun. He is among those who met with the fugitive Ilan Shor before the approval of the Comrat committee. Currently, all issues are being "coordinated" with the Bashkan through lawyers, Ilia Uzun said at the meeting on Tuesday, April 8, IPN correspondent in the region reports.
"The Executive Committee is working normally and all issues related to the smooth functioning of the committee are agreed with the Bashkan through his lawyers," Ilia Uzun said. He specified that Tuesday's meeting of the committee was also coordinated with Evghenia Gutul.
The legislation does not provide for procedures to coordinate decisions with the Bashkan while he is unable to fulfill his duties. Deputy Aleksandr Tarnavsky of the People's Assembly of Gagauzia told IPN correspondent that there are no technical difficulties if the duties of the head of the autonomy are temporarily performed by the first deputy chairman of the Executive Committee and he also signs all documents.
In case the Gagauz Gut would be suspended (this is a possible scenario after the court decision), an early election for the new Bashkan should take place within three months, the Gagauz MP added. Until then, Ilia Uzun will be in charge.
At the same time, at the rallies organized by supporters of Ilan Shor in support of Evgenia Gutul, they claim that the Chisinau authorities want to appoint a protégé of the government as bașcan. And the head of the People's Assembly of Comrat referred, during a briefing, to the talks on the "external governance of the autonomy" and described such a procedure as illegal. So far, Chisinau has neither suggested nor addressed the issue of appointing a person loyal to the government to the post of Bashkan, as such an option is not provided for by law.
Ilia Uzun, who replaces Evghenia Gutul after her detention, is one of those who flew to Israel for a meeting with Ilan Shor two months before the candidates were to be presented to the Executive Committee. The list of contenders subsequently underwent several changes, but Ilia Uzun was retained.
Evghenia Gutul was detained on the evening of March 25 at the Chisinau International Airport before flying to Istanbul. On March 28, the Ciocana District Court ordered her arrest for 20 days. The case concerns the alleged illegal financing of the 2023 election campaign in the amount of 370 thousand lei. Ilan Shor was sentenced by a final judgment to 15 years in prison for fraud and money laundering in the case "theft of the billion".
