A simple transfer of competences or prosecutors between units will not solve the profound problems of the system, in the absence of a thorough analysis and institutional strengthening measures, said experts of the Legal Resources Center from Moldova (LRCM). In a public statement on the initiative to reorganize the prosecutor's system, the LRCM said that the disruption of ongoing investigations as a result of the transfer of prosecutors and the lack of a clear implementation framework can undermine the efficiency of the whole justice system and compromise the completion of these investigations, IPN reports.
On January 29, 2025, the Ministry of Justice presented proposals to strengthen the institutions responsible for combating corruption. According to the initiative, the Section for Combating Corruption and Money Laundering of the Prosecutor General's Office, created in December 2024, will take over the complex cases of political corruption and organized crime from the specialized prosecutors' offices – the Anticorruption Prosecutor's Office and the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime and Special Cases. The staff of this subdivision is to be replaced by 10 prosecutors, transferred from the specialized prosecutors' offices. As an alternative, the Ministry of Justice considered merging the specialized prosecutors' offices, following the model of such states as Croatia and Albania.
"Although the submission of a concrete legislative proposal has not been yet agreed, discussions on this initiative are taking place today and tomorrow in Parliament. The measure is presented as crucial for improving efficiency and institutional coordination, but concerns persist about the substantiation and the way of implementation," says the LRCM.
The statement notes that the initiative must be compatible with the objectives and commitments assumed by the Republic of Moldova in relation to the European Union, which provide for institutional stability and predictability in the reform process. Currently, the proposed reforms are not found in the Roadmaps that set the objectives for meeting EU standards and preparing for Moldova's accession. Any significant reorganization of the specialized prosecutors' offices must be subject to a careful evaluation of the results and lessons learned from the recent reform approved in 2023, regarding the separation of powers of the APO and the National Anticorruption Center.
The LRCM calls on the Parliament, the Government, the Ministry of Justice, the Prosecutor General's Office and all the law enforcement agencies involved to ensure the clear publication of the objectives and stages of implementation. Any plan for the reorganization of specialized prosecutors' offices must include the public, participatory and transparent presentation of the intended goals, the existing challenges of cooperation between anticorruption institutions, implementation stages, the achieved progress and witnessed backlogs.
It also calls for the continuity and efficiency of ongoing investigations, the alignment of measures with the reform commitments and strategies that were already agreed, as well as the exclusion of any excessive institutional interference or decisions that could be interpreted as being directed at a specific person.
The LRCM’s statement is open for signature.
