Four prosecutors who have managed several resonance files, in the recent months were asked to leave the system. Among the files managed by the four prosecutors are the privatization of Air Moldova company, the case of the bribery involving three policemen and two prosecutors, and the cases of two judges accused of illicit enrichment. 

The open.md website wrote that four state prosecutors from the Anti-corruption Prosecutor’s Office had been ordered to resign: Mihail Ivanov, Roman Statnîi, Dorin Compan and Vladislav Bobrov. 

ZdG’s sources within the General Prosecutor’s Office confirmed for us the information. 

Maria Vieru, General Prosecutor’s Office spokeswoman, avoided confirming or denying this information.

 “At this stage, we avoid commenting. We will do it in a few days, maybe even in a press conference,” Vieru pointed out.

Who are the four prosecutors concerned

Mihail Ivanov is a prosecutor in the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office since 2010, according to magistrat.md.

In recent months, he was managing several resonance cases such as the criminal prosecution in the case of Air Moldova’s privatization, a company dubiously privatized in autumn 2018. 

One year later the anticorruption prosecutors applied seizure to the company’s assets after a criminal case for money laundering in particularly high proportions was opened. Air Moldova was privatized for around €62.3 million (1.2 billion lei). The company owed money to the state but also to other companies some of them being linked to the fugitive politician Ilan Shor, whose companies were involved in the theft of the century. 

Another criminal case managed by Ivanov was related to the tenders of hundreds of millions lei won by the Bass System company, owned by Vladimir Plahotniuc, former leader of the Democratic Party.

The case of the two prosecutors from the Chisinau Prosecutor’s Office, Ciocana Office, detained, together with three policemen, for a bribe over 77,000 euros (1.5 million) lei, was also among the cases managed by Ivanov.

According to anticorruption website in that file Ruslan Popov, who was at that time the head of the Ciocana Prosecutor’s Office, was also targeted. Today, Popov is the deputy prosecutor general.

The ambulance file in which the former deputy, Boris Golovin, appears was another case managed by Ivanov. Currently, the anticorruption prosecutors were analyzing the correctness of the procurement procedures of several ambulances in 2018.   

When asked about this situation prosecutor Ivanov replied that “Nobody from the senior hierarchical prosecutors told me that there would be problems in my work. I only heard rumors, which are probably related to certain criminal cases under management, probably for revenge.” 

Roman Statnîi is a state prosecutor in the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office since 2008. Statnîi was managing the criminal case in which the former judge Oleg Sternioală, investigated for money laundering was summoned to leave the system. 

The Sternioală case came to the public attention three years after ZdG published an article about a luxurious house in which the magistrate Sternioală was living but didn’t include in his declaration of assets. 

Earlier, ZdG wrote that Statnîi wrote to the Prosecutor General, Alexandr Stoianoglo about possible illegal interventions in the Sternioală file.

When ZdG asked Statnîi about the call to leave the system, he replied that he heard this for the first time and asked us to come back later.  

Dorin Compan has been, in recent months, the interim head of the Prosecutor’s Office for Combating Organized Crime and Special Cases (PCCOCS), being detached from the Anti-corruption Prosecutor’s Office. He has been a prosecutor in the Anti-corruption Prosecutor’s Office since 2007. 

He has also managed several resonance files in recent years. Being at the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office, he was the one dealing with files in which the former Minister of Agriculture, Eduard Grama or the former Deputy Minister of Economy, Valeriu Triboi, were targeted. 

Also, Compan has dealt with the file of fraudulent auctions in medicine, the tomograph file, and the file with fraudulent auctions made by mayors for millions of lei from the Ecological Fund. 

According to the information on magistrat.md, in the years 2015-2019, Compan was decorated with the Cross For Merit, Class II, the medal For impeccable service, Class III or the Badge of the Prosecutor’s Office. 

ZdG tried to speak with Compan but his mobile phone was disconnected. 

Vladislav Bobrov, the fourth prosecutor who was called to leave the system, has been working in the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office, since 2016, with a pause of several months between May and August 2019. Previously, Bobrov worked in the General Prosecutor’s Office and the Chișinău municipality Prosecutor’s Office Chisinau.

Earlier, ZdG wrote that the anti-corruption prosecutor, Eugen Rurac, resigned from the prosecutor’s offices. Rurac was managing Ion Druță’s file, who held the position of president of the Supreme Court of Justice, accused of illicit enrichment and thwarting justice. 

Rurac was also managing the Metalferos file, in which there were established damages of over €10.3 million (200 million lei).

 It was also Rurac who finally renounced the accusation brought to the current judge at the Constitutional Court, Domnica Manole, tried for knowingly making an illegal decision.

Rurac’s request for resignation was filed on January 13, but entered into force on January 29, 2020. Sources within the Prosecutor’s Office said someone suggested him to leave the system.

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