Former Speaker Candu’s Case Against NIB Transferred to Another Judge

The case of Andrian Candu, the former chairman of the Democratic Party of Parliament and godson of Vladimir Plahotniuc, former leader of Democrats, against the National Integrity Body (NIB), has been transferred to another judge. this happened after Judge Catherine Negru, who was a member of the court, tendered her resignation. The pause in the case came after no sessions were held for about a year, as the court granted a request by Candu’s solicitor for a financial and accounting examination. The lawsuit was filed in 2022 in the context of the NIB’s announcement that the former speaker had been found to have “unjustified assets” worth 4.3 million lei, which he disagreed with, anticoruptie.md reports. The trial was suspended on 3 April 2023 and was due to resume in April this year. Following the adjourned session on 27 May, it was decided to transfer the case to another judge, as Catherine Negru is on the list of judges who have announced their departure from the system and their applications have been approved by the Superior Council of Magistracy (SCM). The National Anticorruption Centre (CNA) initiated an investigation and searched the house as well as other places belonging to Andrian Candu after the NIB had reported the discovery of unjustified assets worth 4.3 million lei. According to law enforcement agencies, between January 2015 and July 2016, Candu obtained a share in a local LLC and added almost 800,000 lei to the family budget with unjustified money. “In addition, between August 2016 and March 2020, the official increased his assets with cash and immovable property, using unjustified sources, worth about 4.5 million lei. To support the evidence, officers and prosecutors from the anticorruption department searched the former MP’s family home and three other properties belonging to him. The former Speaker of Parliament was recognized as a suspect and questioned by the CNA,” the CNA said. The former speaker said he would not plead guilty and urged journalists to examine his income tax returns. In turn, the lawyer of the former speaker said that the actions of the criminal prosecution body are “correct and useful”. “All suspicions are based on the statement of the NIB. But all the actions of the prosecution body, in our opinion, with Mr. Candu, are correct. At least, we think they are useful, because only in the framework of a criminal case it is possible to comprehensively investigate all the circumstances, check all the evidence and find the truth,” the lawyer explained. On 1 March 2022, the Integrity Inspectors issued an Act to Andrian Candu after finding discrepancies between income and expenditure amounting to 4,355,764 lei.