Vladislav Guzic began working as a prosecutor in 2008, at the Hincesti District Prosecution Office. Then he continued at the Prosecution Office of Chisinau, in the capital. In 2017 Mr. Guzic advanced to the office of deputy chief prosecutor, later to the interim chief prosecutor in Causeni District. In May 2020, he was appointed, after a competitive selection, to serve as the chief prosecutor of Stefan Voda, earning a five-year mandate there.

The name of Vladislav Guzic appears in a list of officials who are responsible for the condemnation of Moldova at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

In 2009, while working at the Chisinau Prosecution Office, he accused a man of money forgery and circulating counterfeit cash. Guzic obtained the preventive detention of the suspect for 29 months, until the investigation completed and the trial kicked off. In 2016, the ECHR found that the detention period was “excessively long” and had no legal rationale behind it or relevance for that case.

In 2012, when Mr. Guzic was a prosecutor in Chisinau, the disciplinary panel of the Higher Council of Prosecutors rebuked him for excess of power. It happened after Vladislav Guzic neglected an order from the prosecutor-general for more than one month.

The order instructed Mr. Guzic to withdraw a case that had been investigated and closed by himself for the lack of any offense liable for prosecution. Instead, Mr. Guzic passed the case over to the Anticorruption Prosecution Office for continued investigation.

The case was about unidentified contrabandists in the leadership of two companies – Sava SRL and Moldvama Grup, a state-run enterprise, as well as at the Moldovan Customs Service.

In 2013, while still at the Chisinau Prosecution Office, Mr. Guzic came again under the scrutiny of the Higher Council of Prosecutors for negligence, getting an official warning this time over. He was reprimanded over the handling of a case in which a firm called Deghest SRL (currency exchange) was investigated for tax evasion and money-laundering. Guzic was in charge with the investigation but failed to secure the evidence and to prepare the case for trial within a reasonable timeframe.

During 12 months, Mr. Guzic cared to carry out just three measures as required by the investigation manual: he ordered the tapping of phone conversations, examination of CD with the transcript of conversations – which he sent to experts for shorthand exposure four months after the tapping ended. And he seized no opportunity to carry out any of the 13 searches which a judge had authorized.

During the hearings before his seniors, Vladislav Guzic blamed Interior Ministry officials and police operatives for sloppiness and failure to take prompt action. As for the missing searches, he defended himself with the risk of finding none of the wanted evidence items.

The Higher Council of Prosecutors decided that Mr. Guzic, who was in charge with the overall investigation, had failed to report the sloppiness of Interior Ministry or police to their superiors or to mobilize his the officers under his command in order to ensure the smooth and timely investigation.

And yet, in 2016, the same Higher Council of Prosecutors proposed the Prosecutor-General’s Office to give Mr. Guzic a career boost by awarding him the rank of second degree counselor of law, which is a step up from the rank he previously held for the prosecutor’s job, motivating this decision with the need to encourage the man in his work.

In April 2022, the National Integrity Authority found that Mr. Guzic’s incomes and expenses for the period between 2012 and 2021 didn’t match – there was almost one million lei more in his accounts and properties than he had earned during that period.

Vladislav Guzic replied that the calculations were incorrect and the difference consisted of an unreported bank loan for acquisition of a house from his parents-in-law. Integrity inspectors then took into account the loan and reduced the difference down to more than 250,000 lei.

The case regarding Guzic’s illicit enrichment has been filed in a court of law. If found guilty, Mr. Guzic will be downgraded and banned for public service for three years.

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