Moldovan Oligarch Plahotniuc Faces Trial in ‘Grand Theft’ Case

The Chisinau Court of Appeal ruled in a decision issued on Monday evening that fugitive Moldovan oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc must stand trial in his absence in the 'Grand Theft' case of $1 billion from the Moldovan banking system between 2012 and 2014.

The Moldovan judges rejected an appeal from Plahotniuc's lawyers and upheld the decision of the Chisinau Court to try Plahotniuc for creating and leading a criminal organisation, fraud and money laundering.

The Anticorruption Prosecutor's Office accuses Plahotniuc of having received $39 million dollars and 3.5 million euros, via intermediaries and companies founded by another fugitive oligarch, Ilan Shor - money that originated as loans fraudulently obtained from three Moldovan banks.

Prosecutors have also seized about one billion Moldovan lei (50 million euros) of Plahotniuc's assets from Moldova.

Plahotniuc is charged in three cases with the creation and management of a criminal organisation, large-scale fraud and money-laundering in the 'Grand Theft' case and the 'Kuliok' case related to an alleged bribe given by Plahotniuc to Moldova's former pro-Russian president Igor Dodon.

Plahotniuc fled Moldova in June 2019, immediately after the party he led, the Liberal Democratic Party, lost power after the formation of a governing alliance made up of pro-European and pro-Russian parties, which was subsequently disbanded in November that year.

The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office requested the extradition of Plahotniuc in June 2020, when he was in the US, but without success. In September 2020, when he was in Turkey, the Chisinau authorities tried again, but they have yet to be successful.

Plahotniuc has had close relations with Turkish Presidnet Recep Tayyip Erdogan's...