The Government, the Parliament and the Superior Council of Magistrates (CSM) selected seven candidates to fill the six vacancies of judges of the Constitutional Court (CC). Three of them, Serghei Țurcan, Nicolae Eșanu and Eduard Serbenco, served as justices during the Democratic Party Government as well. Now they have to restore society’s trust in the Constitutional Court – an institution which, at the beginning of June, was involved in making some controversial decisions in favor of the then governing Democratic Party. Subsequently, they collectively resigned. 

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ZdG studied the CVs and the declarations of assets of the seven candidates for the positions of judges of the Constitutional Court.

July 24, 2019: The Parliament’s Committee for Legal Issues, Appointments and Immunity selected Vladimir Grosu and Nicolae Eșanu as judges to the Constitutional Court from a pool of 16 people who entered the contest. The Parliament plenary did not discuss, vote or approve the judges’ nominations, because over the past few weeks several ACUM deputies had expressed their disagreement with the names the Committee selected.

July 30, 2019: The Superior Council of Magistrates (CSM) selected the ex-magistrate Eduard Ababei and the university professor Serghei Țurcan as judges to the Constitutional Court (CC). Initially, 17 people registered for the contest the CSM organized. Three of them later withdrew from the competition.

August 9, 2019: The Government created a Commission to select the candidates for its two seats in the Constitutional Court. Twelve people entered the contest. The Commission proposed four names: Professor Liuba Șova, Secretary of the Ministry of Justice, Eduard Serbenco, former Minister of Justice Vladimir Grosu (who was previously selected by the Parliament) and Professor Nicolae Roșca, a former candidate on the lists of ACUM bloc during the parliamentary elections of February 2019. The Government had to make the final decision. 

Candidates of the Parliament
A Government Representative in the April 7 Case 

Vladimir Grosu began working in the public system in 1996. Since then he held the position of legal consultant at the Botanica District Court of Chișinău, lawyer for Moldova-Gaz and Head of the Legal Service of Chișinău-Gaz and Euromol LLC, vice dean of the Faculty of Law at Moldova State University and director of the Department of copyright and related rights within the State Agency for Intellectual Property. 

In December 2006 he became Moldova’s Governmental representative to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), where he represented the state for cases that reached the ECHR. After this he served as Deputy Minister of Justice from 2011-2015 and as Minister of Justice in the Gaburici Government, during February-July 2015. After leaving the Government, he continued to teach at the University, in the Department of Criminal Law and Criminology.

On April 7, 2009 after demonstrations in response to the Parliamentary elections resulted in violent clashes between the law enforcement bodies and protesters, several cases were filed against the state at the ECHR. In one of them, known as the Taraburcă case, Grosu supported the Government’s point of view, claiming that the law enforcement bodies did not use torture during the April 7 events. In an interview with ZdG in 2015, when he was Minister of Justice, Vladimir Grosu maintained that he had made the right decision based on the evidence he possessed.

How Grosu explained his position in some of the April 7 case files 

“The Government Agent is the lawyer of the Government. As an agent, I requested all the materials from the prosecutor’s office, the police, the courts on the April 7 case files. I form my opinion on the basis of the documents provided by the state. And it appeared that physical force was not applied,” Vladimir Grosu explained. “The first files on the April 7 cases came to the Government in May – June 2009. The files mentioned mistreatment of a person, but several documents were missing. Having no evidence from the plaintiff I relied on the documents provided by the prosecutor’s office, the courts and the police. They lacked evidence that force would have been applied.” 

“When Alexandru Tănase became Minister of Justice, I told him about the April 7 case files. Together with ex-minister Tănase, we decided to make a unilateral declaration on several cases, thus recognizing the violation of the rights of the people. I proposed then, on behalf of the Government, to pay compensation,” Grosu added. “Taraburcă’s case is the only one of this kind. I investigated it with great attention. A witness claiming that Taraburcă was not mistreated made me hesitate to acknowledge the Government’s guilt. I had to be 100 percent sure not to make a mistake when offering this money, because in case the guilt is admitted, compensation is paid from the state budget, not from my own pocket.”

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How the candidate accounts for his extravagant house  

Vladimir Grosu lives with his family in an extravagant house located in the Râșcani district of Chișinău. According to his last declaration of assets the house was appraised at 266,467 euros (5.2 million lei). At the time, Grosu indicated in the statement that he used only one-third of the building. 

In an interview with ZdG, he stated:  “The house you mentioned is not mine, but my parents’ Alexandra and Dumitru Grosu. I only live there. I have no contract with my parents, because I do not need one. The house was built before 2014, long before I got into public service and has nothing to do with my income as a civil servant. However I only use one side of the house and it’s not just me. There is my mother and my brother too.”

According to the Property Records of the Territorial Cadastral Service data from 2016, Vladimir Grosu officially became the owner of the building after the death of his father, Dumitru Grosu; a former judge who served in the Supreme Court of Justice. Currently Grosu’s wife, Rodica and his daughter, Aura have similar shares in the building under donation contracts, along with his mother, Alexandra, and his brother, Serghei Grosu,that have one-quarter of the building registered in each of their names. According to data from the Property Records of the Territorial Cadastral Service, the house was put into operation in September 2008.

According to the same source, the Grosu family also owns shares in two apartments in Chișinău, which the parents of Vladimir and Rodica Grosu obtained (individually) during the Soviet period. 

“My father received the lot in the 1990s, then he started building the house, but I finished it. The house was built long before I came into public office. The duplex was made for my family and my brother’s family. I lived in that house, without owning it, since the early 2000s. Now, yes, I am one of the co-owners,” Grosu specified, at ZdG’s request. 

The candidate who served in the Ministry of Justice for the last six years 

Along with Vladimir Grosu, Nicolae Eșanu is the second candidate the Parliament’s Committee for Legal Issues, Appointments and Immunities nominated for a position as a Constitutional Court judge.

Nicolae Eșanu held the position of State Secretary at the Ministry of Justice, for the past two years, and was a Deputy Minister within the same ministry (from 2004-2009 and from 2013-2017). Eșanu is also a licensed lawyer and until 2013, he was a lecturer in the Department of Civil Law at Moldova State University’s Faculty of Law. Since 2005, he has been a member of the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) and has been an alternate member since June 2017.

After the two judges’ selection for the Constitutional Court, the deputy Dinu Plîngău, an alternate member of the Committee, published a separate opinion stating that “the selection process focused exclusively on the professionalism of the candidates and excluded the other, no less important, two criteria: meritocracy and integrity, which were supposed to form the basis for candidate selection.”

In response, Eșanu wrote that Plângău’s allegations represent a serious accusation, which could compromise the process of restoring confidence in the Constitutional Court. He invited Plăngău or any other member of the Committee to test his integrity in any way they choose, promising to withdraw his candidacy if a lack of integrity is proven.  

Husband – Deputy Minister of Justice, wife – notary

As the Secretary of State, Nicolae Eșanu received in 2018 a salary of 16,603 euros (324,000 lei), and honorariums from the Council of Europe amounting to 2,373 euros.

In 2018, Eşanu’s wife, Lilia Chirtoacă received over 20,000 euros (390,000 lei) from her notary office and from Moldova State University. Chirtoacă has held a notary’s license since June 2006, when Eșanu was Deputy Minister of Justice, obtaining a change of territorial jurisdiction from Hâncești to Chișinău in October 2010, when her husband was no longer active in the ministry.

During his activity at the Ministry of Justice Nicolae Eșanu was involved in the writing of several draft laws aimed at the activity of notaries – his wife’s field of activity. During that period along the position of Deputy Minister of Justice, he also was President of the Disciplinary Board of Notaries.

Currently, Lilia Chirtoacă is a notary in her own Notary’s Office, a 54 square meter building that is included in Eșanu’s declaration of assets and personal assets. In addition to this building, the Eșanu-Chirtoacă family also owns a 107 square meter apartment, through an investment contract in 2008. Eșanu’s family also own half of a house inherited in 2009 and half of a 1300 square meter property valued (according to the declaration) at 13,170 euros (257,000 lei).

In terms of personal property, Eșanu declared a 2007 Honda CR-V, purchased in 2011 for 12,299 euros (240,000 lei). At the time of filing the declaration of assets, Eșanu’s family had bank accounts containing 3,074 euros (60,000 lei), 10,000 US dollars and 24,000 euros.

The Superior Council of Magistrates’ candidates

The Democratic Party ruling coalition named him to the Superior Council of Magistrates. The Court recommended him to the Constitutional Court 

Serghei Țurcan is Chair of the Department of Public Law at the Free International University of Moldova (ULIM). He has a PhD in law and is teaching at ULIM since 1998. From 2010-2013, he was a member of the Superior Council of Prosecutors (CSP). 

In December 2017, the Parliament elected Țurcan as a member of the Superior Council of Magistrates. Seven members voted for him, all belonging to the ruling coalition, formed around the Democratic Party of Moldova. Later the Parliament approved Țurcan’s candidacy with the votes of 57 deputies from the same coalition. 

At the time that the Democrats elected Țurcan, Alexandru Cauia, dean of the Faculty of Law at ULIM, was vice-president of the Democratic Party. In the meantime, Cauia has become vice rector for academic strategy and study programs at the educational institution where Țurcan continues to work.

Serghei Țurcan was recommended to the Constitutional Court by the Superior Council of Magistrates, where he has been active since the beginning of 2018. The members of the Superior Council of Magistrates elected him from a pool of 17 applicants.

“I have never been a member of any party. I have always been politically equidistant and I will continue to be so in the Superior Council of Magistrates. Mr. Cauia does not have any levers to influence me,” Serghei Țurcan told ZdG.

Income from several sources in 2018

Professor Serghei Țurcan owns a modest assets. He lives with his wife in a 54.5 square meter apartment, acquired in 1995. Since 2007, the Țurcan family has owned a 34.8 square meter garage, and they have owned a 2012 Toyota Prius since 2017. In his declaration of assets, the car is amounted to 3,587 euros (70,000 lei), although the market price of such a car is at least double.

In 2018, Serghei Țurcan reported income from several sources: 8,250 euros (161,000 lei) from the Superior Council of Magistrates, 5,996 euros (117,000 lei) from the University, 422 euros (8,232 lei) from the National Agency for Curriculum and Evaluation, 321 euros (6,264 lei) from the Information and Security Service, 95 euros (1860 lei) from the Academy of Public Administration and around 3 euros (54 lei) from the National Agency for Quality Assurance in Education and Research. In 2018, his wife, an employee at the telecommunications company Moldcell, earned 15,552.46 euros (303,500 lei).

A 45,000 euro car and 81,990 euros in the bank

Eduard Ababei, the second judge the Superior Council of Magistrates elected, is currently a lawyer at the Eduard and Lilia Ababei Associates in Drochia. Previously, he was a judge at the Drochia District Court and from 2009-2016 he was a judge and vice-president of the Bălți Court of Appeal. Ababei was also President of the Council of the National Institute of Justice and lecturer at Alecu Russo State University of Bălți for four years. 

In his 2018 declaration of assets and his conflict of interest statement, Ababei declared an income of 26,032 euros (508,000 lei) from his law practice, 18,448 euros (360,000 lei) from property rental and 1,025 euros (20,000 lei) from renting agricultural land. That year he also received a pension of 7,994 euros (156,000 lei). Ababei’s wife, Lilia Ababei, earned 71,741 euros (1.4 million lei) from legal practice.

The couple own a 120 square meter house in Drochia, inherited in 2016, as well as two apartments: one 54 square meter flat in Drochia and another 47 square meter flat in Bălți. They also own a 55 square meter commercial space in which the Eduard and Lilia Ababei law firm is based. 

Eduard Ababei also declared a 2017 Volvo XC90 worth 45,000 euros, a 2008 Renault Koleos, as well as dozens of agricultural properties totalling approximately 150 hectares of land, most of which were purchased in 2018. 

“The lands are leased to different agents. They are located in different villages. I bought the terrains to lease them, they are valued at 76,866 euros (1.5 million lei),” Eduard Ababei told ZdG, stating that in the last two and a half years, his family income “was about 281,840 euros (5.5 million lei), all declared to the state, taxes paid.”

In the 2018 declaration of assets, Ababei also indicated bank deposits of 81,990 euros (1.6 million lei).

Government’s candidates 

Ran for deputy as an ACUM Bloc candidate 

Nicolae Roșca is a lawyer, a university professor and Chair of  the Faculty of Law at Moldova State University. In addition to his academic activity, Nicolae Roșca has served as a member of the Expert Council of the National Securities Commission, a member of the Licensing Commission for the activity of notaries, a member of the Licensing Commission for the Lawyers’ Profession, a member of the scientific advisory council of the Supreme Court of Justice and was head of the disciplinary board of the Superior Council of Magistrates.

Roșca has not held any public office until now. In 2016, he became an elected member of the National Permanent Bureau of the Action and Solidarity Party. He ran for deputy as an ACUM Bloc candidate in the February 24, 2019 parliamentary elections, but did not obtain a parliamentary seat.

In his declaration of assets and personal interests from December 2018, Nicolae Roșca declared an income of 13,477 euros (263,000 lei) from Moldova State University. During the same period, his wife – Alla Roșca, a high school teacher from Chișinău –  received a salary of 7,174 euros (140,000 lei). In the two years, the family obtained 10,966 euros (214,000 lei) from the lease of a space to the Associate Law Office Băieșu și Roșca, of which Nicolae Roșca is also a member.

According to Roșca’s declaration of assets, his family owns a 900 square meter plot of land (with a declared value of 43,711 euros (853,000 lei), a 66 square meter apartment acquired in 1995, and a 2010 Toyota Corolla bought in the same year for 13,000 euros. In December 2018, the couple had a little over 2,716 euros (53,000 lei) in their bank accounts.

The candidate the Government commission gave the highest score

Liuba Șova obtained the highest score in Government’s contest for the position of Constitutional Court judge. For the last 25 years, Șova has been a lecturer at the Department of Constitutional Law and Administrative Law (presently Department of Public Law) at Moldova State University. From 2005-2007, Șova was an advisor to the President of the Constitutional Court, Victor Pușcaș.

From 1998-2005, Liuba Șova practiced law. She has not held public office until now, and hence has never filed any declarations of assets. When contacted by ZdG, Șova specified that she owns two two-room apartments in Chișinău, and does not have a personal car.

Deputy Minister of Justice since 2015 and government representative to the Constitutional Court

Eduard Serbenco received the second highest score in Government’s contest for the position of judge to the Constitutional Court.

From 2002-2003 and again from 2006-2012, Serbenco was a paralegal and a lawyer in Canada. And from 2012-2015, he was vice-dean at Moldova State University’s Faculty of Law. Since August 2015, he has served as Deputy Minister of Justice and Government representative at the Constitutional Court, and since November 2017, he has been the Secretary of State at the Ministry of Justice.  

According to his declaration of assets and interests for 2018, Serbenco has owned a plot of land assigned by Edineț City Hall in 1995, a house and two auxiliary constructions in the same town, put into operation in 2011, as well as the housing rights to a 32 square meter apartment in Chișinău. 

At the beginning of 2019, when the declaration of assets and personal interests was filed, Serbenco wrote that he held in his bank accounts 30,000 Canadian dollars (approximately 20,390 euros), 12,400 euros, 7,592 US dollars and 17,115.39 euros (334,000 lei). All the goods indicated in his declaration of assets and assets were reportedly accumulated before he joined the Ministry of Justice.

Victor Moșneag, Anatolie Eșanu