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At a meeting this Monday at the Superior Council of the Magistrates (CSM) Minister of Justice Tudorel Toader reproached Prosecutor General Augustin Lazar for being on trips abroad in various key moments and accused him of putting the recently established Magistrates' Investigation Section of the General Prosecution Office out of gears.
Tudorel Toader presented on Monday at the CSM Prosecutors' Section the reasons for his requesting Augustin Lazar's removal from the office of Prosecutor General.
"In key moments the Prosecutor General was either in China, in South Africa or elsewhere. I defy you to hear me out as I prove that you actually enjoy the position and it's probably natural, but at the same time you have delegated much of your job responsibilities, without exercising them.You said that you have a deputy in charge. Your activity plans do not include approvals for national security warrants of which I don't know if you signed any throughout this period, you just left somebody else to do it. You probably signed yourself only as an exception," Toader said during the meeting.
The JusMin also blamed the PG for opposing the establishment of the Magistrates' Investigation Section right from the start, and for hindering now its activity.
"You vehemently challenged the establishment of the special Section. The Constitutional Court said it was a matter of timeliness, and it was of no consequence if those who investigate or verify the complaints against prosecutors are under the umbrella of the National Anti-corruption Directorate or of the Public Prosecutor's Office. You vehemently stood against this ruling, although the Constitutional Court said this was the legislator's job. 'I, as Prosecutor General, do not agree to this.' But do you have legislator competencies? Investigation Section personnel complain having no basic services like fax, phone, clerks, they lack the basics for carrying out their activity. We will check this and if it is true, it means that you are throwing obstacles to their activity," Toader said.
The CSM Prosecutors' Section is to issue an advisory opinion on the request of the Minister of Justice to remove Prosecutor General Augustin Lazar from office.
