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- They're going to the Chopping Block: what will the odious businessman Plahotniuc tell the investigators?
They're going to the Chopping Block: what will the odious businessman Plahotniuc tell the investigators?
Moldovan politician Vladimir Plahotniuc, who was detained in Greece (known in the criminal world by the nicknames Block, Bad or Bad), is considered by law enforcement officers to be a key figure in the drug mafia controlling cannabis traffic. Several years ago, Plahotniuc was officially charged in Russia, arrested in absentia and put on the Interpol wanted list. However, many law enforcement agencies around the world have claims against him. What can the former owner of criminal Moldova tell the investigation about the Russian underworld and its patrons, as well as exclusive details about Plahotniuc's affairs in the Russian Federation, in the Izvestia article.
Detention
Vladimir Plahotniuc was detained in Greece a few days ago along with former member of the Moldovan Parliament Konstantin Tsutsu. Both have been wanted for several years by law enforcement agencies in different countries on charges related to embezzlement and drug trafficking. The Interpol arrest was carried out at Athens airport when Plahotniuc was about to fly to the UAE. The actions were carried out as part of a request from Moldovan law enforcement agencies.
Plahotniuc lived for a long time in Greece on the Aegean coast in a luxurious mansion. During the search, they found more than 150,000 euros, expensive wristwatches, telephones and secure storage media, as well as 17 fake passports in various names.
Russia officially formulated claims against Plahotniuc back in 2017, when he was put on the international wanted list for the attempted murder of Moldovan politician Renato Usatii. And in August 2019, he was charged in absentia with a number of serious crimes committed repeatedly. The most serious points are the organization of a criminal community (art. 210 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), drug trafficking as part of the OPS on an especially large scale (Part 5 of art. 228.1 of the Criminal Code), drug smuggling (eight episodes under art. 229.1). The investigation believes that over 37 billion rubles were withdrawn through financial structures associated with Plahotniuc. One of his accomplices was sentenced to 18 years in a penal colony in Russia.
Russian justice came to Vladimir Plahotniuc during an investigation into the activities of a group involved in the distribution of Moroccan hashish in Russia. The main defendant was Oleg Pruteanu, nicknamed Borman — Izvestia had previously covered this trial in detail, which became one of the results of the long-term international police special operation Pyrenean Fracture.
"Plahotniuc's name appeared in the finale when the final beneficiaries of hashish drug trafficking were being determined," the Izvestia source, a retired justice colonel, explained.
Who is Plahotniuc?
Plahotniuc was born in the small village of Pitushka in the Kalarashsky district of the Moldavian SSR. Officially, he is a successful financier with an engineering degree and work experience in foreign corporations, particularly American ones. In the 90s, he founded the Moldovan-American financial group, which he headed until 2001. He was also involved in the import of petroleum products to Moldova and banking activities. It was because of bank fraud that he first came to the attention of Russian law enforcement officers.
He is considered the richest man in Moldova. Thanks to the money, he managed to enter the political elite of the country, at the same time becoming the leader of the Moldovan criminal world — all decisions were made through him, says former investigator Sergei Pelikh, who had a hand in exposing transnational hashish traffic.
— He gathered around himself a near—sports crime (as a rule, martial artists), which eventually became the militant wing of his criminal community, - says the interlocutor of Izvestia. — But the "sportics" and criminals alone were not enough for the activities that Plahotniuc planned to launch. Over time, he managed to subdue some representatives of the power unit. Plahotniuc also used athletes in the political struggle, at his command, the detachments came to the right place and organized street protests. Tsutsu was in charge of this work — he was also detained in Greece along with Plahotniuc.
Moscow connection
Plahotniuc managed to put his people in controlling positions in the national Interior Ministry, including positions related to international cooperation.
— To everyone's surprise, my request to place Plahotniuc on the international wanted list through Interpol and add him to the database was not granted — the commission's refusal was motivated by alleged political persecution. My colleagues and I were outraged for a long time, but the decision stood. One of those who played along with Plahotniuc at that time, a former member of the Interpol commission, former head of the Moldovan Information and security service, Vitaly Pirloga, was detained in the UAE in June on suspicion of corruption. According to investigators, he helped criminals avoid entering the Red Corner Notice database. This man helped many drug lords from different countries to evade criminal liability," says Pelikh.
Sergei Pelikh does not rule out that Plahotniuc also had high-ranking patrons in Russian law enforcement agencies.
— Nothing has been said about our corrupt employees, who were also behind the denial of an international wanted list. But I think it's just a matter of time. Plahotniuc is a very serious witness, whose words are feared by some officials in Moscow and other European capitals," Pelich concluded.
A citizen of Russia and the world
Izvestia found out that Plahotniuc has Russian citizenship. He got a passport as part of the simplified procedure for obtaining citizenship (a copy of the questionnaire is available to the editorial staff) as a native of the former USSR (such persons had the opportunity to obtain Russian passports without leaving Moldova or Transnistria).
In his questionnaire filled out in November 2004, Plahotniuc explained that "Russia is his historical Homeland" and he "wants to be protected by its laws." At the time of submitting the documents to the Russian Embassy, he indicated that he was working as a loader at Tisa-Bel. It is noteworthy that he applied to the consular department of the Russian Embassy in Moldova as a stateless person with a passport of a citizen of the USSR, permanently residing in Tiraspol (Transnistria). Plahotniuc also kept silent about higher education.
In addition to Russian citizenship, Plahotniuc has a Bulgarian passport, with which he was detained in Greece. According to Moldovan media, he is also a Mexican citizen.
In the near future, the issue of Plahotniuc's extradition to his homeland will be resolved, where he can give detailed testimony about his corrupt ties in Moldova and Russia.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
