The Commission has completed the evaluation of all judges with leadership positions

The Judicial Vetting Commission announces the completion of the assessment of all judges who currently hold or have held leadership positions within first instance courts over the past five years, following the submission today to the Superior Council of Magistracy (SCM) of the evaluation reports concerning judges Angela Catană and Corneliu Guzun.

As a result of the evaluation of Judge Angela Catană, former Acting Vice-President of the Chișinău Court, Buiucani Office, the Commission found that the criteria for financial integrity were not met. Accordingly, the evaluation report includes a proposal for the judge’s failure to pass the evaluation.

A similar conclusion was reached in respect of Judge Corneliu Guzun, former Vice-President of the Chișinău Court, Rîșcani Office, due to non-compliance with the applicable financial and ethical integrity criteria.

The relevant facts and the reasoning underpinning the Commission’s findings are set out in the reports submitted to both the evaluation subjects and the SCM. At this stage, the reports do not produce legal effects. The SCM is to decide whether to endorse or reject them. The evaluation results are available on the Commission’s website, while the reports will be published upon expiry of the statutory appeal period or, where applicable, following a final judgment of the Supreme Court of Justice.

Results of the integrity evaluation of judges in leadership positions

In May of last year, the Commission received for evaluation 24 judges who currently hold or have held the position of court president or vice-president, or who have served in an acting capacity in these roles over the past five years.

Following notification of the initiation of the evaluation procedure, 10 of the 24 judges resigned. Of the 14 judges who completed the full evaluation process, seven passed the evaluation and seven failed. In two cases of non-passing, the SCM ordered re-evaluation, with the respective procedures currently ongoing.

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