Dodon withdrew the Moldovan citizenship of the former President of Romania, Traian Basescu, because he would have not presented a criminal record when he applied for the citizenship. Therefore, according to the presidential adviser, Maxim Lebedinschi at that time the Romanian ex-president was targeted in several criminal cases, and the Presidency believes that he tried to hide this information. In turn, Basescu responded to Dodon's allegations two months ago, publishing his criminal record on the facebook page. It is clean!

Contacted by Deschide.MD, the Presidency noted that at the address of the institution have been coming data from SIS and MAI notifying that Basescu did not submit the information about criminal cases in Romania, when he applied for the citizenship of Moldova. This is what led to the decision on withdrawal of the citizenship of Traian Basescu.
By his decree, Igor Dodon claimed that Basescu "obtained fraudulently the citizenship of the Republic of Moldova, by false information or concealment of any relevant fact".

"Thus, it was found that Mr Basescu has violated the provisions of the legislation when he filed the application for citizenship," said Lebedinschi.

It should be noted that according to the law, the citizenship of the Republic of Moldova is not granted to the person who "is under investigation when examining the request."

We tried to find out if the president did not breach the legislation when he signed a decree to withdraw the citizenship on the grounds that only the court can declare an infringement. According to former Constitutional Court judge, Nicolae Osmochescu, there are exceptional circumstances which allow the president to make a decision without the court's decision.

"Formally, Igor Dodon's decision is correct. Mr Basescu has not submitted all the information on his legal status," he told Deschide.MD.

On the other hand, lawyers point out that he appeared in a criminal case, he was not condemned. However, Basescu there was no court decision on Basescu.

In turn, Traian Basescu published on November 1, on social networks, his criminal record demonstrating that he "is not convicted or is not a defendant."

"Why put my record on the site? I needed it anyway to apply for the citizenship of the Republic of Moldova, I got it today. I looked on Euractiv. Neither more nor less they list me as criminal. (...) I am not prosecuted (...) So, I have no criminal case. What mean the record? In the criminal record are shown two things, if you had convictions and here I have no doubt that every Romanian knows that I had not, but if you're defendant in a case is written in the record, that you are a defendant. Therefore, I put this record to show the deceitful propaganda that I do not appear as a defendant anywhere," Basescu said at the time.

However, the request for Moldovan citizenship was filed in March 2016. According to the press of Romania, Traian Basescu at the time appeared in several criminal cases for bribery and money laundering.

At that time General Secretary of President's administration of Moldova, Ion Paduraru explains that in the case of Traian Basescu, Nicolae Timofti was guided by legislation, according to which citizenship may be granted by presidential decree "in the interests of the republic and in exceptional cases".

"It is a sovereign right of the state to grant citizenship," said Paduraru.

Deschide.MD recalls that Traian Basescu and his wife Maria Basescu, submitted in March to obtain the Moldovan citizenship application. In June, the former president of Moldova signed a decree granting citizenship to Basescu family. Subsequently Socialist MPs have filed a complaint with the Constitutional Court on examining the legality of granting Moldovan citizenship to Traian Basescu, but this request was rejected. The Court found that the complaint does not meet the conditions of admissibility for the constitutionality and therefore can not be accepted for examination.