The former member of the Superior Council of Prosecutors (SCP) Olesea Vîrlan was fined 1,500 lei and was banned from holding public office for a period of three months after the court found her guilty of abuse of power committed in the competition for the position of prosecutor general held a year ago, IPN reports.
The Anticorruption Prosecutor's Office said that, in her capacity as a member of the SCP, the offender acted in bad faith in the subjective evaluation and application of the criteria with regard to candidate Ion Munteanu. It was also established that she influenced the selection process in the interest of a third person, another former member of the SCP. Thus, she affected the integrity of the competition and damaged the public's confidence in the procedure for selecting prosecutors.
Although her actions were considered reprehensible, the chief prosecutor of the Anticorruption Prosecutor's Office, who personally handled the criminal case, concluded that there had been no considerable damage to the rights or interests protected by law in that context. For this reason, no elements of a crime could be identified and the acts were treated as misdemeanor. The case was examined by the Ciocana Court of Chisinau City.
The court held that, by using the position of SCP member, the competition for the position of prosecutor general was vitiated and the Council had to cancel the contest. The image and credibility of the SCP were thus seriously affected.
Moreover, the court found that the objectivity towards the European integration process that provided for the election of the prosecutor general by the end of March 2024 was flagrantly violated. Given the defective and vicious behavior of the former SCP member, the state failed to fulfill this obligation at that stage.
The former member of the SCP acted in a way that goes against the rights and interests protected by law of individuals, especially of candidate Ion Munteanu, by depriving him of the right to have a fair, equitable competition based on meritocracy and equality and of the right to professional promotion and work.
The Ciocana Court’s decision can be appealed to the Centru Court of Appeals.
