The judges who commit abuses by passing sentences that are not based on the legal provisions should be penalized. The non-penalizing of abuses in the justice sector is the cause of failure of the transport reform, said representatives of the Employers Association of Road Transport Operators (APOTA) who complained to court about the abuses committed by the State Tax Service. The ordinary court and the appeals court ruled in their favor, whereas the Supreme Court of Justice ruled in favor of the State Tax Service.
In a news conference staged by IPN, the head of the Association’s Board Oleg Alexa said that the law on state control over entrepreneurial activity provides that the non-observance of the legal provisions and procedures leads to the nullification of the inspection and the imposed penalties. There is also a Constitutional Court decision of 2018 providing that a part of the fiscal fines should be treated as penal accusations.
After complaining about the abuses committed by the State Tax Service, the carriers won the case in the first two courts. “But the Supreme Court of Justice passed its judgment, ruling in favor of the State Tax Service and legalizing all the abuses of this. From its argued decision, we realize that the SCJ interpreted Law No. 131 in such a way that this law actually does not exist,” stated Oleg Alexa, noting the abuses in the justice system, the mistakes made intentionally and with serious negligence should be penalized.
According to him, the SCJ judge-rapporteur on this case passed a number of decisions for which the Republic of Moldova was sentenced by the European Court of Human Rights. The carriers went to the Judicial Inspectorate and asked that the judge should be held disciplinarily accountable. But none of the 22 invoked actions was examined. They submitted a complaint to the President against the Judicial Inspectorate, but the complaint reached not the President, but again the Judicial Inspectorate.
“As long as the disciplinary mechanism is not functional and cannot be aimed against the senior officials of the Moldovan justice system, all the other aspects that contribute to or form the justice sector reform in principle will not have any sense,” stated Oleg Alexa.
The conference forms part of the series of conferences held as part of IPN News Agency’s project “Support for the Justice Reform through multimedia coverage of cases of alleged injustice”. The Agency does not bear responsibility for the public statements made in the public sphere by the organizers of news conferences. IPN News Agency gives the right of reply to persons who consider they were touched by the news items produced based on statements of the organizers of the given news conference, including by facilitating the organization of another news conference in similar conditions.
