FRIEDRICH-EBERT-STIFTUNG THE PRE-VETTING PHASES: THE UNSEEN FACE OF JUSTICE REFORM “According to the Ziarul de Garda(ZdG) sources, Iurie Gatcan and Ar­cadie Rotaru are the two employees of the National Anti-Corruption Centre(NAC) targeted in the criminal trial opened on Tuesday, 26 Sep­tember, on the alleged illegal actions of some NAC employees responsi­ble for gathering, analysing, and providing information to the Pre-Vet­ting Commission regarding the candidate for the position of member of the SCM, Iulian Muntean. More precisely, the head of the Operational Analysis Section of the NAC Analytical Directorate is Iurie Gațcan, who was employed in the Secre­tariat of the Pre-Vetting Commission, while the current head of the Ana­lytical Directorate is Arcadie Rotaru.[...] Gatcan was appointed in June as a member of the Vetting Commis­sion for the External Evaluation of the Ethical and Financial Integrity of Judges and Candidates for the SCJ on behalf of PAS. According to the APO, the suspicions behind the initiation of the crim­inal proceedings in relation to the concealment of information about Iulian Muntean are that Iurie Gatcan, the NAC employee who in 2018 prepared the operational analysis report, including in relation to Iulian Muntean, is an employee of the Secretariat of the Pre-Vetting Commis­sion, and the head of the NAC’s General Analytical Directorate, respon­sible for conducting both operational analyses(in 2018 and 2023) in re­lation to Iulian Muntean, is the same person – Arcadie Rotaru.[...] According to the ex-officio report, on 14 December 2018, at the interpel­lation of the NAC’s criminal prosecution body from 29 October 2018, in the criminal case with the generic name“ASEM”, Gatcan conducted the operational analysis regarding three intermediaries, as well as regard­ing students and professors suspected or accused in the corruption acts, including Professor Iulian Muntean, who at that time had the proce­dural status of defendant.” 106 5.3 Exclusion of the time limits within which the Pre-Vetting Commission carries out the evaluation of candidates The law established the obligation of the Pre-Vetting Commission to observe procedural deadlines in gathering and verifying in­formation about the integrity of candidates of no more than 30 days from the receipt of the declarations of assets and personal interests of candidates for the last five years, with the possibility of extending this deadline by 15 days, so in total 45 days. 107 On 22 December 2022, the stage at which the Pre-Vetting Commission had completed the evaluation of the candidates for judges and started their hearings, the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova cancelled all these deadlines for the Commission. 108 While no individual or legal entity could refuse to provide the information requested by the Commission, meeting the 45-day deadline for gathering information on candidates proved too difficult for a Commission assisted by a generous Secretariat. By contrast, the three working days usually given to candidates, during which they had no right to require any non-cooperating individual or legal entity to submit any in­formation, was considered an appropriate deadline by the Pre-Vetting Commission. After two and a half years of work by the Pre-Vetting Commission, the evaluations of the candidates have not yet been finalized and not all vacancies have been filled in the SCM. CASE STUDY 14. International anti-corruption expert Tilman Hoppe compares the timeframes of external evaluation in Moldova, based on the example of the Pre-Vetting Commission, with those of the Ukrainian commissions UNCACcoalition.org,“International integrity vetting of public officials: guest blog”, 17 March 2023, updated 9 August 2023 109 On the page of the Civil Society Coalition for the United Nations Con­vention against Corruption, an analysis was published in 2023 110 in which the speed and the human and financial investments made in the Moldovan Pre-Vetting Commission are compared with similar invest­ments for the international vetting of candidates for appointment as judges to the Ukrainian Anti-Corruption Court and for the head of the Ukrainian National Anti-Corruption Bureau. The author, Tilman Hoppe, estimated that in Moldova it took 3-7 times longer to evaluate four times fewer candidates than in Ukraine. Finally, reporting on financial and human resources, he found that in Moldova, the Pre-Vetting Com­mission spent 7-10 times more man/days/candidate than in Ukraine. Given that the Pre-Vetting Commission’s mandate continued for at least another 14 months after the publication of the article(more than 300 working days from August 2023-October 2024), the final invest­ment in man/days/candidate could be double the estimated invest­ment in 2023(271 days by August 2023). 5.4 Secretizing the Secretariat of the Pre-Vetting Commission and concealing political connections The Pre-Vetting Commission is assisted in its work by a Secretariat, which has an important role in gathering and analysing information on candidates, having access to all information on candidates for processing and preparing materials for the Commission members. 111 According to the rules of this Secretariat, employees are required to duly respect the rules of conduct established for Commission members. Therefore, like the members of the Commission, employees of the Secretariat are obliged to refrain from any activity in the event of a conflict of interest, from any activity that could give rise to a conflict of interest, and from any actions incompatible with membership of the Commission. They are also obliged to refrain from actions 106 https://www.zdg.md/stiri/stiri-justitie/cine-este-angajatul-din-cadrul-secretariatului-comisiei-pre-vetting-vizat-in-procesul-penal-privind-furnizarea-in­formatiilor-incomplete-in-privinta-lui-iulian-muntean-a-fost-desemnat-de-pas-in-comisia/ 107 Art. 10 para.(1) and para.(8) of the initial version of Law 26/2022 on Pre-Vetting. 108 Article I point 5 of Law 354/2022 of 22 December 2022 amending Law 26/2022 on Pre-Vetting. 109 https://uncaccoalition.org/international-integrity-vetting/ 110 https://uncaccoalition.org/international-integrity-vetting/ 111 Art.21 para. 4 of the Regulation of 22 April 2022 on the organization and functioning of the Independent Commission for the evaluation of the integrity of candidates for the position of member of the self-administration bodies of judges and prosecutors, in compliance with Law 26/2022 on Pre-Vetting. 40