Octavian Iachimovschi, the prosecutor who won the competition for the post of prosecutor general, annulled on Wednesday, February 28, by the Superior Council of Prosecutors, says he has not decided whether he will appeal the decision.

“It would be disappointing for the entire body of prosecutors and certainly for society if the SCP found that the evaluation given by some SCP members was flawed especially given that there is a possibility that they had been vetted in the pre-vetting procedures and considered to have integrity. This could cast doubt on the effectiveness of these procedures,” Iachimovschi remarks in a statement to ZdG.

The Superior Council of Prosecutors (SCP) revoked the decision on the results of the interview test for the selection of the candidate for the post of Prosecutor General, thus cancelling the competition. “A major discrepancy was detected, which was not covered in terms of the argument as to why one of the candidates was rejected,” said SCP president Dumitru Obadă. Thus, the SCP has decided to launch a new competition for the position of Prosecutor General at a later stage, after the mechanisms, including “the regulations governing this extremely important exercise”, have been thought through.

On Thursday, 22 February, members of the SCP heard the four candidates in the competition for the post of Prosecutor General. During the interview, the candidates presented their concept of management and development of the Prosecutor General’s Office (PG) and told what motivated them to participate in the competition. As a result, Octavian Iachimovschi, Acting Deputy Head of the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office (PA), scored the highest score.

The four other candidates scored as follows: 

• Octavian Iachimovschi, acting deputy head of the PA – 8.53
• Igor Demciucin, Acting Deputy Prosecutor General – 8.19
• Ion Munteanu, Acting Prosecutor General – 8,16
• Andrei Coca, lawyer – 4.72.

According to the rules, the SCP was to submit information on Iachimovschi’s candidacy to the Vetting Commission for external evaluation of his ethical and financial integrity. But on Wednesday 28 February, the results of the competition were annulled.

In a statement to ZdG, Octavian Iachimovschi, the prosecutor who had won the competition, said he had not yet decided how he would proceed next.

“It is premature to comment at this stage on the SCP’s decision. I will be able to comment after I have studied the arguments relating to the legal grounds that justified this solution. I also consider it premature to comment on whether I will challenge this decision. It would be disappointing for the whole body of prosecutors and of course for society if the SCP found that the assessment given by some members of the SCP was flawed, especially given the possibility that they had been verified in the pre-vetting procedures and considered to be of integrity. This could cast doubt on the effectiveness of these procedures. At the moment I do not have a clear understanding of how serious this potential vitiation of the competition results would have been. I am a prosecutor and in my statements I rely on evidence, the source of which can be verified, so I am not in a position to comment on whether today’s decision was politically influenced. At least for me today all doubts that some of the SCP members favoured me have been removed, rather the publication of the score shows that some members gave an inexplicably low score for me.”

Total score per candidate sheet

From the results published by the SCP, Ion Munteanu received his lowest score of 3.5 from SCP member Olesea Vîrlan, and the highest – from SCP President Dumitru Obadă, 9.5. Igor Demciucin received the lowest score from CSP member Elena Rosioru – 7, and Olesea Vîrlan gave him the highest score – 9.3. Octavian Iachimovschi was given a score of 9 or more by four of the nine members.

Acting President of the Superior Council of Magistracy Sergiu Caraman and SCP member Andrei Cebotari gave Iachimovschi the highest score and Andrei Coca the lowest.

Most members of the SCP, including Justice Minister Veronica Mihailov-Moraru, SCP President Dumitru Obada and members Eduard Panea, Elena Rosior and Svetalana Balmuș gave the most points to Ion Munteanu and the fewest to Andrei Coca.

SPC member Rodica Ciobanu gave Iachimovschi and Munteanu the same score – 9.16.

The position of Prosecutor General became vacant after President Maia Sandu signed a decree in September 2023 dismissing suspended Prosecutor General Alexandr Stoianoglo from office. The competition was announced on 22 October 2023 and subsequently extended until 29 December 2023 after only two candidates applied. A total of six candidates submitted their applications, but two were excluded from the race.