A mixed group of renowned lawyers from Great Britain, the United States of America and the Republic of Moldova are launching an investigation to verify the legality of PAS funding and will demonstrate the abuses that have been committed. The statement was made by one of the lawyers of the "SHOR" Political Party, Aureliu Colenco during the PULS show on Orizont TV.
The Lawyer Aureliu Colenco says that there is enough evidence and information that proves the illegal financing of the governing party PAS, and to show that in the Republic of Moldova, the law is at the head of the table, he expects the authorities and especially the Constitutional Court to apply the same tools and arguments to outlaw PAS.
"The Lawyers from the Republic of Moldova, together with lawyers from Great Britain and the United States, launch a legal investigation and in three months we will present to the Minister of Justice materials regarding the financing and violations that take place in the PAS party. And you are going to proceed precisely as was done to the Political Party "SHOR". Otherwise, we will turn to the competent bodies," declared Colenco.
Moreover, according to the lawyer, a journalistic investigation shows that 147 people who appear in the list of PAS donors had no source of income. At the same time, the formation received donations in the form of goods and services in the total amount of about 75,000 lei. Based on these facts, the Central Electoral Commission and the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office were notified by a private media institution. Almost two years later, both institutions have provided a response in which they say that no deviations from the electoral legislation have been established.
During the show, Aureliu Colenco also expressed his deep indignation at the attitude with which three judges treated the case of the "Shor" Party.
In the same show, Aureliu Colenco declared that in the case of the "Shor" Party, the current government lied to the development partners, especially the Venice Commission.
"I want to draw attention to the fact that in its request, the Ministry of Justice in the person of Sergiu Litvinenco and Natalia Gavrilita mentioned to the Venice Commission that: "we executed all the levers on the territory of the Republic of Moldova. We don’t have any more levers!". We, as lawyers, mentioned in the Constitutional Court that, look folks, the Government lied to the Venice Commission. There’s article 22, from the law on political parties, which says that the Minister of Justice can make an inquiry at the party, and tell them: "don’t do that any longer, I’ll give you 30 more days not to do that.". If it does, then the ministry suspends the activity of the political party and files a claim in the common law court, that’s it. Good people, they lied to the Venice Commission", added Colenco.
In Aureliu Colenco’s opinion, the Venice Commission considers that, in order to declare a political party unconstitutional, three factors are needed: the decision must be based on legal provisions, have a legitimate purpose and respect the principle of proportionality.
