MJ Memorandum proposing dissolution of SIIJ among items on gov't meeting agenda

The Memorandum on the organisation and functioning of the Special Section for Investigating Magistrates (SIIJ), drafted by the Ministry of Justice, which proposes the very dissolution of the SIIJ, is among the items on the government's Friday evening meeting agenda. 

The meeting will start at 8.00 pm on Friday evening, with the said Memorandum being among the normative acts to be discussed. 

The Ministry of Justice will promote thus the dissolution of the Special Section for Investigating Magistrates (SIIJ), while considering the opinions of magistrates who were consulted in relation to this matter and all the criticism expressed in various country reports, Minister of Justice Catalin Predoiu said on December 15, at the event held in Constanta on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of DIICOT (Directorate for Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism). 

The Memorandum mentions the conclusions and recommendations regarding the SIIJ made by some European bodies such as the Group of States Against Corruption (GRECO) and the Council of Europe, the European Commission for Democracy through Law of the Council of Europe (Venice Commission), as well as the CVM Report of the European Commission. 

"Although the establishment of this section was found to be constitutional, the manner in which this institution carries out its activity contradicts the type of organisation of the prosecutor's offices in Romania and the hierarchical control principle," reads the Conclusions Chapter of the Memorandum. 

The document shows the solution adopted by the Ministry of Justice is to dissolve the SIIJ. 

"Seeing the recommendations included in the abovementioned European documents, the legal provisions that regulate the functioning and organisation of the SIIJ, as well as the concrete manner in which the Section has been functioning since its establishment and until now, we propose as the standpoint of the Ministry of Justice the solution of dissolving the SIIJ," reads the document.