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A Moldovan court on Wednesday found businessman Vladimir Plahotniuc guilty of participating in the country’s 'Billion Dollar Bank Fraud,' sentenced him to 19 years in prison, and ordered the seizure of more than 1.1 billion Moldovan lei (roughly $64 million) in assets.
The verdict by a panel of judges at the Chișinău Court said Plahotniuc “created and managed a criminal organization that committed several crimes, including fraud and money laundering, in particular the theft of financial means from the banking system of the Republic of Moldova with their subsequent laundering.”
A former member of parliament, deputy speaker and leader of the Moldova’s Democratic Party, Plahotniuc was once one of the country’s most powerful political figures. Moldova’s Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office alleged he worked with former MP Ilan Shor and others to commit his crimes, including the theft of $1 billion — more than 10 percent of Moldova’s annual GDP — from three of the country’s banks.
Plahotniuc is being held in preventive detention in Penitentiary No. 13 in Chișinău. He maintains his innocence and will appeal the verdict, said his lawyers.
"Vladimir Plahotniuc's defense team categorically rejects the sentence pronounced today and qualifies it as deeply illegal, manifestly unfounded and incompatible with the minimum standards of a fair trial," defense lawyer Lucian Rogac told ZdG minutes after the verdict was handed down.
The Chișinău Court also accepted a civil action filed by Moldova’s Ministry of Finance against Plahotniuc, ordering the collection of over some $60 million from Plahotniuc's accounts.
“The civil action was admitted, the amount of approximately $60 million was ordered to be collected from the defendant’s account, which constitutes the damage caused by the devaluation of the three banks, including the default interest provided for by law,” Prosecutor Alexandru Cernei told ZdG, an OCCRP member center.
The Legal Resources Centre from Moldova hailed the verdict as “one of the most significant rulings ever delivered in Moldova against a person long associated with the period of state capture.”
“It matters not only because of who was convicted, but because it suggests that the justice system may finally be becoming capable of acting against individuals once seen as untouchable,” it said an analysis of the judgement.
Between 2012 and 2014, Plahotniuc and others allegedly facilitated Ilan Shor's gaining of shareholdings of some commercial banks, while removing impediments from the control authorities, including the National Bank of Moldova and the National Financial Market Commission, Moldova’s Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office said in a press statement after the verdict.
“Thus, the organization allegedly gained control over the administration of these institutions and over the lending processes, in order to subsequently fraudulently access loans in particularly large proportions, which were allegedly stolen through complex schemes and subjected to money laundering,” the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office said.
Plahotniuc fled Moldova in June 2019 amid a dramatic power shift in the country. Shortly thereafter, Moldovan prosecutors requested Interpol issue an Interpol Red Notice for his arrest. However, the alert was later removed following Plahotniuc’s legal challenge, and his whereabouts remained unknown for years.
He was arrested on an Interpol notice at Athens International Airport last July and finally extradited home to face charges.
