A New Round of Scandal around the Ombudsman in Moldova

People’s lawyer Ceslav Panico will inform Parliament Speaker Igor Grosu and Prime Minister Dorin Recean about the attempts of the head of some state institution to interfere in the activities of the Ombudsman. And after their response, he will decide to announce the name of the official who asked the Ombudsman to change the report. About it newsmaker.md was informed in the office of the People’s Lawyer on 22 January. “Today the Ombudsman will send enquiries to higher structures about the attempted interference of one of the heads of a state institution in the activities of the Ombudsman,” - said the Deputy People’s Lawyer Oxana Gumennaia. She added that after the Ombudsman’s Office receives a response from the Speaker of Parliament and the head of the government on the actions taken, the People’s Lawyer “will decide to publicize the name of the state official who abused power”. As previously reported, on 19 January, People’s Lawyer Ceslav Panico said on Facebook that he had received emails from the heads of two institutions. “In the first letter, the head/minister proposes to hold joint discussions to change the situation, eliminate the problem and prevent human rights violations in the sphere where the Ombudsman’s Office found several problems. In fact, it is a clear intention of the manager to improve the situation in his/her area. In the second letter, the head/minister denies the findings of the Office of the People’s Lawyer and asks that the report be changed. “It is not clear to me from the letter whether this is an intention to improve the situation or just an ‘attempt’ to circumvent the notion of interference in the work of the People’s Lawyer,” Panico wrote. Panico did not name the official or say which report was in question, but noted that this was the first such case in the 25 years of the Ombudsman’s Office work.