Vladimir Plahotniuc, the former Moldovan Democratic Party leader and now exiled oligarch, will soon be put on the international wanted list, Moldovan Interior Minister Andrei Nastase told the press in Chisinau on August 30.
The Interior Ministry has done its best to initiate the international search for parliament deputy Ilan Shor, who lost his immunity, and “the same should happen to Plahotniuc,” Nastase said, adding he would discuss the issue in the United States, where he would go with a government delegation on August 31.
“During my visit to the United States, I will inform every department that Moldova has started a criminal inquiry into usurpation of power. Hopefully, prosecutors will act faster than Plahotniuc and his accomplices are expecting. We should put Plahotniuc on the international wanted list as soon as we can and hold him accountable,” Nastase said.
Meanwhile, Parliament Deputy Speaker Alexander Slusar wrote on Facebook on August 30 he had been assured that Plahotniuc was charged with “establishment of a criminal group, blackmail, fraud, and money laundering.” The confirmation was given by the prosecution service, which Slusar asked to check “certain shady deals Plahotniuc concluded in 2011 without paying taxes.” The criminal inquiry is based on materials obtained from Romania.
Plahotniuc left Moldova in the evening of June 14, as soon as the Democratic Party turned into opposition. Later on, he resigned as the Democratic Party chairman, and surrendered his parliamentary mandate in late July.
Russia opened several criminal cases against Plahotniuc. In December 2017, the Russian Investigative Committee accused Plahotniuc of forming a criminal group to prepare an attack on his political opponent, Renato Usatii. An order was issued for Plahotniuc’s arrest.
In February, the Russian Interior Ministry accused Plahotniuc and businessman Vyasheslav Platon of organizing an international criminal group and illegally transferring money outside Russia. According to the investigators, the criminal group of Plahotniuc and Platon siphoned over 37 billion rubles (about $560 million according to that date’s exchange rate) off Russia in 2013-2014.
The investigative department of the Russian Interior Ministry demanded in late July that Plahotniuc, who was absent from the proceeding, be arrested on counts of organizing and participating in a criminal group. The Russian police accused Plahotniuc and former Democratic Party deputy Constantin Tutu of 28 cases of contraband and wholesale drug dealing.
Additionally, the former Democratic Party leader is suspected of organizing an international criminal group which smuggled hashish from North Africa into the CIS. More than 60 members of the group were prosecuted in Russia between 2012 and 2019. The Moscow Tverskoi District Court ordered Plahotniuc’s arrest in absentia on July 29, 2019.
