Ex-prosecutor Furtuna Sued Sandu and Demanded 1 Million Lei in Compensation

Former prosecutor Victoria Furtuna, suspected of disclosing information from a criminal investigation she led, has sued President Maia Sandu. The lawsuit was registered at the end of last week in a Chisinau court. Furtuna claims moral damages of one million lei for comments made by the head of state during a press conference held at the presidential administration in March. Then, during the conference, Maia Sandu was asked whether Victoria Furtuna’s statements about the possible fabrication of SIS and NAC cases, as well as her decision not to appoint judge Alexei Panis were true. Without naming the accuser, Sandu hinted that the answers should be sought in the mentioned institutions and not at the President’s Office. “We see prosecutors who committed abuses during Plahotniuc’s time. Now they have no other job, they don’t care about cases, big corruption that harmed the state and citizens. Instead they deal with judges against whom there are questions. Let the SIS and the NAC answer, I have a legal right to return the cases of judges I have questions about to the SCJ. I also have questions about the integrity of some judges,” President Maia Sandu replied. Former prosecutor Victoria Furtuna, although her name was not mentioned, believes that Sandu was alluding to her in the context of alleged cooperation with Vlad Plahotniuc. “The higher the position in the state - the greater the responsibility for everything you do and say should be. The position of the country’s president does not give permission to make false, unsubstantiated statements deliberately denigrating someone. This is not the first time, but it will not happen to me. In the preliminary statement sent today to Maia Sandu, I asked for 1 million lei as compensation for moral damage for intentional slander,” Furtuna commented.