Moldovan court sentences oligarch Plahotniuc to 19 years in prison
He was found guilty of stealing a billion dollars from the country's banking system.
Vladimir Plahotniuc. Photo: AP Photo/Roveliu Buga
A Chisinau court sentenced the former leader of the Democratic Party of Moldova, oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc, to 19 years in prison. He was found guilty of stealing a billion dollars from the country's banking system. Three more criminal cases against Plahotniuc are under investigation, the BBC writes.
According to the court's decision, Plahotniuc is deprived of the right to hold certain public offices for 5 years and will have to pay the state about $60 million.
Prosecutors requested 25 years for Plahotniuc – 15 years for fraud and 10 years for large-scale money laundering, the Moldovan publication NewsMaker wrote. As MOLDPRES notes, this is the maximum possible term for the aggregate of crimes for which the oligarch is accused.
The prosecution also requested the confiscation of Plahotniuc's property to compensate for damages and cover the costs associated with the businessman's extradition from Greece.
Plahotniuc's defense demanded his acquittal. The oligarch's lawyer, Lucian Rogac, insisted that the trial was too hasty and that there were errors in the calculations in the case materials, amounting to millions of euros.
"I am no saint, but I did not participate in the theft of a billion," Plahotniuc said at the last court session on March 25.
Who is Plahotniuc and what is he accused of?
Plahotniuc participated in Moldova's political life in the 2010s. From 2010 to 2015, he was a Member of Parliament for the Democratic Party, and in 2016, he became its chairman. The media called him the "Moldovan Abramovich," "de facto leader," and "master of Moldova": by the mid-2010s, Plahotniuc controlled banks, media, law enforcement agencies, and courts in Moldova.
However, in 2019, the Democratic Party took third place in the parliamentary elections and did not join the new coalition, and Plahotniuc left Moldova.
In the same year, 2019, Plahotniuc became a defendant in a criminal case in Moldova — concerning large-scale money laundering. In 2020, he was charged in absentia in the case of the theft of a billion dollars from the country's banking system.
The theft from three banks (Banca de Economii, Banca Sociala, and Unibank) became known as early as late November 2014.
In 2020, Moldova's Prosecutor General's Office stated that Plahotniuc was one of the beneficiaries of the theft and received $39 million USD and €3.5 million through companies controlled by oligarch Ilan Shor. Shor was sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison in the same case.
Criminal cases against Plahotniuc have been initiated not only in Moldova but also in Russia. Russian authorities suspect him of organizing a criminal community, smuggling, illegal drug trafficking, illegal money withdrawal from the country, and attempted murder. In Russia, the oligarch has been arrested in absentia.
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