The arrest of the Bessarabian oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc, extended. When he will be heard in the case of the theft of the billion
The court in Chisinau extended the preventive detention on behalf of the oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc, who is on trial in the billion theft case. At the same time, the magistrates decided that he will be heard on February 23, and his absence will be qualified as refusal.
The arrest in the name of Vladimir Plahotniuc, extended by 30 days. PHOTO: Telegram.org
“They are the risks that are invoked every time when the preventive measure is extended, in particular the risk of preventing the smooth progress of the process and the risk of evading the court”, said Alexandru Cernei, prosecutor from the Anticorruption Prosecutor's Office (PA).
On the other hand, the defender Lucian Rogac qualified the decision regarding the extension of the preventive measure as a decision “unfounded and illegal”.
“Of course we will make use of our right and challenge it,” added the oligarch's lawyer.
Also during Thursday's meeting, defense witnesses were heard, and the prosecution claims that they did not provide relevant information to the criminal investigation.
“Today's witnesses have no attribution with the fraudulent loans that were granted by the two banks, included in the object of the accusation”. added Alexandru Cernei.
The prosecutor also insisted on reading the statements of a witness with protected identity, submitted during the criminal investigation phase. According to Alexandru Cernei, the witness has been missing from the Republic of Moldova for over five years, and the magistrates will decide on this request at the next meeting.
The oligarch was absent from the meeting on February 19, but through his lawyers, he requested to be heard on February 23 from the witness stand, as well as to present diagrams and schemes on sheets, and the court accepted his approach.
“Mr. Vladimir Plahotniuc will come to the court on Monday, February 23, to submit statements”explained lawyer Lucian Rogac.
He risks hard years in prison
If he is proven guilty in the file regarding the theft of the billion, the oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc risks a sentence of up to 20 years in prison. Meanwhile, Vladimir Plahotniuc is behind bars, being held in Penitentiary No. 13 in the center of the Capital of the neighboring country.
At the same time, he is accused of “abuse of office in the interest of a criminal organization and money laundering, in the framework of a criminal case initiated by the General Prosecutor's Office in October 2021, related to the “fraudulent procurement of passport blankets”.
He is also being investigated in an open criminal case ,,by the Anticorruption Prosecutor's Office in 2022, in which he is accused of passive corruption, this case being later connected to the criminal file known as “Kuliok”. In this investigation, Vladimir Plahotniuc would have offered up to one million dollars to Igor Dodon when he was in charge of the Republic of Moldova. In exchange for the bribe, the pro-Russian Igor Dodon is said to have undertaken to undertake several actions, including the impunity of Vladimir Plahotniuc on the territory of the Russian Federation, accusations which Dodon denies.
At the same time, Vladimir Plahotniuc appears with “also accused in the criminal case “Metalferos”, withdrawn from PCCOCS, in which he is charged with the creation and management of a criminal organization, fraud and money laundering”.
On September 25, 2025, the oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc was extradited from Greece to the Republic of Moldova, being brought in handcuffs by air, six years after his escape from the neighboring country.
During his detention, as well as during the descents from Athens, where he was hiding from the judicial authorities, 11 passports issued by different states under false identities, including Antohe Mihai, Al Shaheen Fereyduon or Kirsanov Stanislav, were found. The oligarch also had four identity cards, among which two were allegedly issued by the Romanian authorities. The oligarch denies the allegations.
