site.btaEx-Romanian Justice Minister Says Bulgarian Constitutional Amendments Are Waste of Time in Fight against Corruption

Ex-Romanian Justice Minister Says
Bulgarian Constitutional Amendments
Are Waste of Time in Fight against Corruption


Sofia, May 25 (BTA) - Former Romanian justice minister Monica
Macovei said in Sofia on Monday that the proposed amendments to
the Bulgarian Constitution are a waste of time and will only
delay the fight against corruption. She is attending a forum
organized by the Justice for All Initiative.

The constitutional amendments drafted by the ruling majority
propose that the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) should be
divided into a college of judges and a college of prosecutors
and investigating magistrates, and should serve a shorter term
of office.

Macovei urged Bulgaria to find someone who is willing to take
risks and who is not afraid. The right solution is not just to
establish new bodies or amend the laws - this only delays
action, she said. She believes the important thing is for
everyone to work together as a team, and then only on the most
serious crimes. All that Bulgaria needs is professionals and
independent prosecutors to combat corruption, Macovei said.

She said: "Only those who dare to do something will succeed. Two
things are needed for success: politicians must have a will,
and judges and prosecutors must get down to the task." Macovei
commented that nothing can stop a prosecutor who wants to act
differently and not yield to pressure.

She explained that her country established a prosecution office
to fight corruption among civil servants, politicians and
magistrates, and that a new public procurement law was drafted.
That unit in Romania was headed by an independent risk-taker,
and no information was leaked from it, not even to the Interior
Ministry.

Initially only conditional sentences were passed in the fight
against corruption in Romania, but later on things changed and
those sentenced are already doing time in prison.

Macovei commented that if the Bulgarian Justice Minister is
ready to carry out reforms, nothing can stop him. The judicial
system cannot reform itself from within, and a collective body
cannot assume responsibility. She suggested that the powers of
the SJC should not be broadened.

Justice Minister Hristo Ivanov said that if he failed to
accomplish what he had planned, he would resign, but this would
be the easiest move. "I hope we will introduce the draft
amendments to the Constitution today, this is for the MPs to
do," he said.

Integrity probes are not done among Bulgarian magistrates, said
Ivanov. Certain things get noticed only if someone is targeted
for a hit. "If we cannot tell the SJC 'just do it' today, it is
because they are the result of a negative selection," he said.
Although Bulgaria created a specialized court and prosecution
office, there were no candidates for those institutions, he
said, adding that one of the worst things he had heard was that
the prosecuting magistrates enjoyed greater freedom in the 1980s
(under the communist regime). He called for a discussion on
ways to guarantee an independent prosecuting magistracy.

Representatives of the Justice for All Initiative said Bulgarian
justice is bureaucratic, non-transparent and slow. The SJC has
no accountability and principles, that is why the political
quota on it should be reduced. Regarding the prosecutor general,
the initiative is in favour of accountability and a shorter
term.

French Ambassador Xavier Lapeyre de Cabanes, who attended the
forum, said the magistrates themselves criticized their leaders
for tolerating a judge's actions known long before the Belvedere
case. He was referring to Judge Roumyana Chenalova, who was
suspended from the Sofia City Court over alleged mishandling of
a bankruptcy case against two Bulgarian subsidiaries of France's
Belvedere Group. Commenting on the case late last year, the
French Ambassador blew the whistle on "rotten apples" in the
Bulgarian judicial system. In April, judges expressed
dissatisfaction with an SJC check into irregularities at the
Sofia City Court and called for clear conclusions about the
responsibility of the court's former leadership.
LI/VE, DD



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