Several prosecutors holding leadership positions under the rule of the Democratic Party (PDM) government resigned or took leave following the recent regime change in Moldova. The latest resignation came on August 6, when the Deputy Head of the Anti-Corruption office stepped down, drawing suspicion when she was released from her position that same day. What’s more, a number of the prosecutors who resigned in July collected large amounts of severance pay on their way out.

The latest resignation came from Prosecutor Adriana Bețişor – Deputy Head of the Anti-corruption Prosecutor’s Office (PA). She turned in her letter of resignation on August 6 citing personal reasons. Officials from the Prosecutor General’s Office told ZDG that interim Prosecutor General Dumitru Robu granted the request and signed the order to release her from office that same day. 

Bețişor’s decision to leave the Prosecutor General’s Office follows a string of resignations among prosecutors and judges that took place after the PDM government gave way to the ACUM Bloc–Socialist Party coalition in June. And it seems as though they didn’t leave empty handed. The former Prosecutor General Eduard Harunjen collected one million lei (over €51,000) in salary and severance pay while leaving office and the Deputy Head of a specialized unit, Valeriu Bodean, collected 836,900 lei (over €43,000) in salary and severance while on leave. 

These revelations have emerged in addition to the fact that under the PDM government, the Prosecutor General’s Office was plagued by accusations of stalling reform efforts, carrying out politically motivated cases, instrumentalizing investigations and permitting unjustified surveillance.

Adriana Bețișor’s letter of resignation accepted immediately 

On June 7, 2011, Bețișor, along with two other colleagues from the National Institute of Justice (INJ), participated and won the competition announced by the Superior Council of Prosecutors for filling the vacant prosecutor positions within the PA.

On June 14, 2011, then Prosecutor General Valeriu Zubco, appointed Adriana Bețișor to the position of prosecutor within the Anti-corruption Prosecutor’s Office.

In recent years, Prosecutor Adriana Bețișor has initiated several prominent cases regarding the 2014 bank fraud. She also managed the criminal case against former prime minister, Vladimir Filat, in which he was sentenced to nine years imprisonment. The case was opened in response to a complaint filed by Ilan Shor, the controversial businessman that the Kroll Company has named as one of the main figureheads in the bank fraud. 

• Reading the Kroll 2 Report

• Kroll-2 Report: 77 Shor Group Companies Received $2.9 Billion In Loans

Following the resignation of Viorel Morari from the position of Head of the PA, Adriana Bețișor briefly held the position of interim Head of the institution. Although she resigned in early July, she continued to serve as Deputy Chief of the PA until August 6, when she resigned from the Prosecutor’s Office completely. 

Bețișor’s husband also left the public service

In December 2015, while Adriana Bețișor was managing the Filat case, her parents, who live in Cuhnești, Glodeni district, bought a two-level house on the outskirts of Chișinău, which was finalized at 84 percent. “It is a family home,” declared Adriana Bețișor. The building has not been finished till this day. 

According to information from the portal of the National Integrity Authority, Dumitru Șubin, Adriana Bețișor’s husband, recently resigned from the Customs Service, where he acted as head of the division. In the declaration of assets and interests filed upon release from office, he included the 121 square meter house for the first time, mentioning that the building and the related land have been in his possession as of this year. 

Șubin also indicated that he had taken out two loans from two individuals in 2019, totalling €17,500 euros. The money is to be repaid this year. The two spouses also own two Skoda Octavia model cars, one is in their property and the other in their use.

Former Head of the Prosecutor’s Office for Combating Organized Crime and Special Causes on leave until 2020

After the change of government, Nicolae Chitoroagă, the Head of the Prosecutor’s Office for Combating Organized Crime and Special Causes (PCCOCS) left office. Chitoroagă resigned from the position of Chief Prosecutor at the end of June and was transferred to the position of Prosecutor within the Chișinău Prosecutor’s Office. Shortly, however, Chitoroagă filed for leave. ZDG’ s sources within the Prosecutor General’s Office confirmed that he would be on leave for about seven months, until February 2020. 

When contacted for comment, Chitoroagă refused to share the length of his vacation period, saying only that “there are other reasons” for his decision to go on leave. 

“I haven’t been on vacation for six years. The leave is legal and there is nothing out of the ordinary,” Chitoroagă told ZDG. 

When asked if his reasons for going on leave were the same as what motivated him to give up the leadership of the PCCOCS, Chitoroagă confirmed that it was due to pressure on him and to remove any suspicions of influence over the PCCOCS activity. 

When contacted about the period of Chitoroagă’s leave, the Prosecutor General’s Office would only confirm that Nicolae Chitoroagă had not used his leave for the years 2013-2017, but would not say how long the prosecutor will be absent. 

The order granting the annual leave of absence was signed on June 28, 2019, by the then Prosecutor General, Eduard Harunjen.

Former deputy head of a specialized group in the Prosecutor’s Office receives 836,900 lei in salary and severance

In July 2019, Valeriu Bodean, one of Chitoroagă’s deputies at the PCCOCS, resigned from the Prosecutor’s Office. He had worked in the prosecutor’s offices since 2000, and has held several positions in the Ciocana Prosecutor’s Office, the Chișinău Prosecutor’s Office and the Office of the Prosecutor General. At the time of his resignation, Bodean was also Head of the Board of Prosecutors’ Performance Evaluation within the Superior Council of Prosecutors. 

According to the information in the declaration of assets and interests Valeriu Bodean submitted upon his release from office, during the last year he benefited from an income of around 836,900 lei (over €43,000), which included a severance  allowance given when he was released from office. For reference, his monthly salary in 2018 was 31,610 lei (€1,603) and the average monthly salary in Moldova is 6,975 lei (€354). 

According to the Law on the Prosecutor’s Office, prosecutors who have worked for more than ten years in that role are entitled to a one-time severance pay at the termination of service relations. The sum is calculated by multiplying their last monthly salary by the number of full years worked as a prosecutor, and dividing it by two. The pay is given based on the circumstances that determine the termination of employment, so long as they do not affect the image of the Prosecutor’s Office and the reputation of the prosecutors.

Salary and compensation of one million lei for the former Prosecutor General

Moldova’s Prosecutor General Eduard Harunjen also resigned from office in July. The decree regarding his release from office was signed by President Igor Dodon on July 11, 2019. 

“In the context of worsening of health, which has as a consequence the impossibility of exercising the plenipotentiary functions, I ask you to accept my request for resignation and to order my release from the position of Prosecutor General of the Republic of Moldova before the expiration of [my] term,” Harunjen wrote in his request to the Head of State. 

According to the declaration of assets and interests filed on release from office, Eduard Harunjen had incomes from his salary and severance package of no less than one million lei (over €51,000). The only declared purchases Harunjen made during his time as Prosecutor General were two motorcycles, valued at 28,000 lei (€1,420) and bought in 2016-2017. 

At the moment, Deputy Prosecutor General Igor Popa and Chief Prosecutor of the Chișinău Municipal Prosecutor’s Office Ștefan Șaptefrați are on annual leave. 

• VIDEO / Civil Society Demands Prosecutor General’s Resignation, He Refuses. A Summary

• POLL/ Dodon Does Not Want a European Prosecutor Anymore. Why?

Victor MOŞNEAG, v.mosneag.zdg@gmail.com