JusMin Toader: I wouldn't have accepted Lazar's incomplete candidacy file in contest for PG office

Minister of Justice Tudorel Toader on Thursday stated that if he were at the helm of the Ministry of Justice back at the time when the contest was held for occupying the prosecutor general office, he wouldn't have accepted Augustin Lazar's candidacy file because it was not complete. 

Asked at the Superior Council of Magistracy (CSM) headquarters about the fact that Augustin Lazar claimed the Minister Justice pulled a manipulation attempt when he referred to the prosecutor general's candidacy file, Toader said: "I would prefer not to comment, for Mr. Lazar should have said if the affirmations were correct or not, instead. I mean, we are risking to draw the wrong conclusions before seeing if what he said was actually true or not and I will give you another example: March 15, 12.22 am -2016. In the context in which the law says clearly which are the pieces that must be included in the file, the Ministry only received through email a letter of intent and a CV, while the deadline expired on March 16 - it is all written - and the file was incomplete, I for one, if I were Minister back then, I wouldn't have accepted him in the contest for the appointment as prosecutor general as long as his file was not complete." 

Romania's Prosector General Augustin Lazar stated on Thursday that Justice Minister's statement regarding the discovery of a fraud in his candidacy file for this office proved to be "a manipulation of the public opinion" and announced that he reserves his right to take action according to the legal procedures in force. 

"The statement regarding the alleged fraud, after two and a half years, in the appointment process of the prosecutor general turned out to be totally lacking support of evidence and, more than that, it proved to be a manipulation of the public opinion, a manipulation and an unjustified suspense regarding a statement that was made in an interested manner, in order to serve a visibly vitiated dismissal procedure. I would like to tell you that at a mere reading of the Superior Council of Magistracy [CSM] decision of 21 April 2016, we will be able to see that the Prosecutors' Section meticulously checked each of the legal conditions that were imposed on the candidates, namely minimum 10 years seniority, the lack of sanctions over the last 3 years - and please note that only for the lack of sanctions the three-year term was required - and it was still necessary the condition of a very good mark at the last assessment. Therefore, the Superior Council of Magistracy, which is the guarantor of the independence of justice, established that all the legal conditions for the candidates were met. The rest is politics and I reserve the right to act according to the legal procedures in force," PG Augustin Lazar stated upon entering the CSM headquarters.