Prosecutors in Greece issued a 40 -day arrest warrant on behalf of the Moldovan Oliharh Vladimir Plahotniuc, the General Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Moldova announced on Monday, according to the Prut.
The deadline is granted, according to the European extradition agreement, for sending the extradition request. The decision is with the right of appeal.
“The Greek prosecutors issued a 40-day arrest warrant regarding the accused person, a deadline granted according to the European extradition agreement, for sending the extradition request. The decision is with the right of appeal,” the General Prosecutor's Office of the neighboring country announced, in a statement published on the institution's Facebook page.
The General Inspectorate of the Chisinau Police announced on Tuesday, July 22, that Vlad Plahotniuc was detained in Athens, when the oligarch intended to go to Dubai.
Together with Plahotniuc, former Democrat deputy Constantin Țuțu, sports and close to oligarch, but also “Miss Moldova 2019”, Elizaveta Kuznețova, was also detained.
Plahotniuc was caught at Athens airport, while trying to transit to Dubai.
The Moldovan Minister of the Interior, Daniela Misail-Nichitin, said that immediately after the former Democrat leader who was in international prosecution of Chisinau and placed on the list of sanctions by the United States, the EU and the United Kingdom, the extradition procedures were activated.
“Confirm, (Plahotniuc) was detained at Athens airport. The extradition procedure is to be organized, according to international uses. Any member of Interpol complies with the extradition regulation and already, after the person is retained, this mechanism is triggered,” said the Moldovan minister, according to Agerpres.
Daniela Misail-Nichitin said that the exact duration of the extradition process cannot be estimated at this time. “In each case it is organized according to the specific. We will not anticipate any scenarios. There is a procedure to be respected, in accordance with national and international rigors,” explained the minister.
The Greek press writes that Plahotniuc, 59 years old, lived with his family in a luxurious villa in the city of Voula, located about 17 kilometers from the capital of Greece.
Constantin Țuțu was also placed in preventive arrest in Korydallos, the largest penitentiary in Greece.
The Greek police have previously announced that it has confiscated 155,000 euros and 17 passports and false documents, in the context of the detention of Vladimir Plahotniuc and Constantin Țuțu. The two lived together in the house in the southern suburb of Athens.
“The 59 man (Vladimir Plahotniuc, no) for years lived with the 38-year-old man (Constantin Țuțu, no), also sought, who, to minimize the risk of detection, remained in the house a large part of the day. A feature of the precautionary measures that they took, that they were in the country, that they were in the small. residence ”, according to a press release of the Moldovan authorities, quoted by the Guard newspaper.
Also, four luxury watches, a car with which Vladimir Plahotniuc, information storage devices, mobile phones and several fake Romanian and Bulgarian acts were also seized.
Vladimir Plahotniuc left the Republic of Moldova in June 2019, after his party, PDM, lost power. Subsequently, in July 2023, the Anticorruption Prosecutor's Office announced that it had sent a criminal case to accuse Vladimir Plahotniuc. He is accused of committing a series of crimes, including – the creation and management of a criminal organization, scam in very large proportions, as well as money laundering in very large proportions, recalls open.md.
Who is Vladimir Plahotniuc
Plahotniuc led the Democratic Party, which was in government in the Republic of Moldova during 2016-2019, but also participated in the 2009 government. The oligarch is in numerous criminal procedures in the Republic of Moldova in connection with offenses related to the hijacking of state funds and their illegal transfer outside the Republic of Moldova.
Vladimir Plahotniuc – once very influential in politics and business in the Republic of Moldova – left the Republic of Moldova in June 2019, when the Democrats lost power, and was pursued.
On the table of Moldovan prosecutors there are several files in which the former politician is accused of scam and money laundering, the creation and management of an criminal organization, illicit enrichment, excess of power, active corruption and false in public acts.
He was accused in the Republic of Moldova in the file “Banking Fraud”, that is, removing from the Moldovan banks of a billion dollars in 2014, but is also investigated for the alleged bribe of the former president of the Republic of Moldova Igor Dodon with a money bag in exchange for political favors. Dodon is currently being investigated in an open file on this fact and rejects the charges.
Vladimir Plahotniuc is currently on the list of people sanctioned by the EU, the United Kingdom, the US and Canada. The place where Plahotniuc would be located is not officially confirmed, but it is conveyed that it would be in Turkey or in the United Arab Emirates.
