They permanently speak about corruption in the legal system, but only one judge in Moldova has been convicted of corruption so far and this happened in 1996, Minister of Justice Oleg Efrim said in an interview for Info-Prim Neo of the series “Year 2012 in Moldova’s and Moldovans’ life”,{which was published on December 17, 2012}. According to the official, the Ministry of Justice aims to create the legal framework needed to ensure sufficient instruments for the authorities that deal with corruption combating. One of the applied measures is the exclusion of the immunity of judges for acts of corruption, approved on August 31, 2012. “I want to be understood correctly. The goal in itself is not seeing a judge behind bars. It would be ideal not to speak about corruption in the legal system if it hadn’t existed there. But, until everybody realizes that corruption exists in the legal system, we want the authorities to take energetic actions to investigate the acts of corruption, using al the necessary instruments,” said the minister. He regretted that even if more than three months have passed since the amendment of the law, there aren’t at least effective investigations in the field. “Earlier, the Prosecutor General’s Office said that it cannot investigate acts of corruption because the judges have immunity. On August 31, 2012, the immunity of judges for acts of corruption was excluded. More than three months have passed and no judge is yet under investigation. The fact that nothing happens in this field only fuels the people’s distrust,” said Oleg Efrim. He also said that they designed a series of anticorruption initiatives in the public system in general, which are today being discussed at public debates. They provide for the confiscation of property for illegal enrichment, the imposition of criminal punishment for illegal enrichment, the use of the polygraph before allowing judges and prosecutors to enter the system, the use of integrity tests in justice. “Regretfully, besides not feeling this support, any anticorruption initiative of the Ministry of Justice meets with opposition from judges especially. There appear ill reactions to these initiatives. It is hard to accept that those who will be reformed will support the reforms because this will mean changing the way of living and working. But we will be insistent in promoting these measures because the state must fight corruption where it exists and ensure efficient justice for the people,” stated the minister. The interview with Oleg Efrim continues the series of 12 Info-Prim Prim Neo interviews of the series “Year 2012 in Moldova’s and Moldovans’ life. Until now, their opinions about the performance of the passing year have been stated by Prime Minister Vlad Filat, the leader of the Communist Party Vladimir Voronin, the Head of the OSCE Mission to Moldova Jennifer Brush, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Valeriu Lazar. The next interviews will be with Mayor of Chisinau Dorin Chirtoaca, Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Vasile Bumacov and others.