Moldova has the most corrupt legal system in the world, according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report (2014-2015), while the image of judges among people is very bad. However, only a small part of the judges are to blame for such a state of affairs as these are involved in illegal land distribution and money laundering schemes, the president of the Supreme Court of Justice Mihai Poalelungi said in the General Assembly of Judges on March 13, IPN reports.
“The absolute majority of judges are correct and honest. At the same time, owing to particular problems, last year we were classed as the most corrupt system in the world. Why so? Do you remember the ordinances made by judges by which cash transfers, or more exactly, operations to launder US$18.5 billion, were authorized. What position should we thus take? It is evident that we cannot be placed on a different position. We underlined not only once that distributing land on which to erect apartment buildings in Chisinau is within the competence not of the courts of law, but of the local public authorities. Regretfully, the situation didn’t change,” stated Mihai Poalelungi.
“Since we are able to travel to the EU visa free, the courts started to pass judgments by which persons who are not citizens of Moldova are declared Moldovan citizens. Is this within the competence of the courts or there are procedures by which the head of state grants nationality? How can we explain to the investors that we are honest in such situations?”
Mihai Poalelungi said that the judiciary practice should be standardized because some of the judges continue to pronounce judgments as they like. When very serious civil and criminal lawsuits with special impact on society are examined, a Court of Jurymen should be set up according to the German model so that society could exercise control. Another recommendation is to annul the state tax when filing a lawsuit. This tax could be paid at the end of the trial by those who lose the case. The Supreme Court of Justice should be reorganized so that civil society takes part in exercising justice.
“There are many complaints about the reasonable timeframe for examining civil and criminal lawsuits. I was against instituting timeframes, but I think that these are now needed in all the courts of law. The examination term in the first court should be six months, while in the next two courts – three months. The people will thus be sure that the trial through all the courts will end in a year,” said the president of the Supreme Court of Justice.
Mihai Poalelungi also said that the Supreme Council of Magistrates should be empowered to check the property of judges without limiting the rights of the National Integrity Commission, while the Chisinau Appeals Court should be reorganized and divided into two – a court dealing with cases from the municipality and another one dealing with cases from the central region of the country.
