Stamate on the publication of the audio recording: I was not told that I was being recorded

The Center for Investigative Journalism of Moldova (CIJM) expressed on Tuesday, April 2, regret about the attacks and pressure that the Anticoruptie portal was subjected to after the publication of the investigation “Hybrid Honesty of Hermann von Hebel.”

Moreover, three days after the publication of the article, the former head of the parliamentary commission on legal affairs, Olesya Stamate, said that she did not give any comments to journalists. In this regard, the editors decided to publish a telephone conversation with her, reports realitatea.md

“After 20 years of history, thousands of completed investigations and an impeccable reputation, we are able to prove that we do our job honestly. Since we consider the deputy’s statements to be unfounded and derogatory, we have the opportunity to release an audio recording of a conversation with Olesya Stamate, which she denies. Before publishing the investigation the author of the investigation asked her if she knew about the circumstances under which Hermann von Hebel led the reform of the Secretariat of the International Criminal Court and what consequences this had. Olesya Stamate noted that these aspects were unknown to her, but she learned about other problems of the current chairman of the preliminary assessment commission after the fact. The discussion lasted about 17 minutes and also touched on aspects of the activities of the verification and preliminary commissions, as well as some recent “scandalous” hearings. We will reproduce only that part that relates to the subject of the investigation,” the Anticoruptie editorial board explained.

After the publication of the audio recording, Olesya Stamate reacted on social networks:

“In my opinion, this situation demonstrates two significant things:

1. The quality of investigative journalism by some journalists. Firstly, the code of ethics of a journalist clearly states that he is obliged to tell you that he is recording you or that he will quote you – this was not the case. Moreover, at the end of our discussion she directly says that if she wants to quote me in the material, she will ask me and show me the text – which, again, was violated.

This clearly reveals a hidden interest in writing this “investigation” – namely, an attack on the preliminary verification process, and in some cases, on me personally.

2. The undeniable independence of the preliminary commission and its members. The fact that we, politicians, are not entirely satisfied with the speed at which this process is moving is no secret to anyone. This was also discussed on air and at meetings with the preliminary commission. And the fact that, despite the desire of politicians to move faster, the commission acted as it considered correct and necessary – is an additional demonstration that the commission acted independently, maintaining the level of quality, sometimes at the expense of speed,” wrote Olesya Stamate.

Let us recall that in the published recording Stamate stated the following about Hermann von Hebel:

“We’ve had a lot of bad luck with him, we can’t wait to get rid of him. We really got burned by this Herman.”