Greece extradite Oligarch Plahotniuc to Moldova in a case of fraud of $ 1 billion

A Moldovan oligarch and former main politician was extradited from Greece accused of participation in theft of $ 1 billion (748 million pounds sterling).

Vladimir Plahotniuc, 59, was transported by Airplane from Athens to Chisinau on Thursday morning, then taken to a detention center in the Moldova capital, local officials said.

The magnate, which faces several longtime criminal cases in Moldova, has repeatedly denied any reprehensible act and promised to prove its innocence.

His extradition comes a few days before the legislative elections on Sunday, with President Maia Sandu warning that the European independence and future of Moldova are in danger due to Russia’s attempts to promote violence and spread disinformation.

Vladimir Plahotniuc fled Moldova in 2019, when his Democratic Party was elected power.

Thursday morning, he was seen escorted by the plane in which he arrived by the Moldavian police and the interpol officials.

He was then put in a car and far from the airport.

In an article on social networks, President Sandu wrote: “If you do not give up when it is difficult and you continue to fight – all of society continues to fight – even criminals that seemed invincible coming to justice.”

His lawyer Lucian Rogac accused the pro-element of Sandu of transforming his client’s extradition “into an insipid political spectacle” before the key elections.

The lawyer also said that his client’s “fundamental rights” had been violated during the extradition process that started on July 22 with his arrest at Athens Airport at the Moldova.

The magnate is one of the main suspects of the disappearance of $ 1 billion in three Moldovan banks in 2014 – a case known as “theft of the century”.

At the time, the sum was worth more than 10% of the gross domestic product of Moldova.

His extradition comes as the poor country between Romania and Ukraine is preparing for the September 28 elections which will determine whether Moldova continues its integration with the EU, or returns to the political influence of Russia.

Earlier this week, Sandu accused Moscow of “paying hundreds of millions of euros” in Moldova in order to stir up violence and spread disinformation and fear.

“The Kremlin thinks that we are all for sale. That we are too small to resist … But Moldova is our house. And our house is not for sale,” said the president.

The BBC recently discovered evidence of a network with links with Moscow and the fugitive Moldovan businessman Ilan Shor who worked to spread disinformation.

An infiltration journalist found people paid to publish false content online, intended to undermine the party in power before the vote. The posts had millions of views. Shor did not respond to a request for comments from the BBC.

Speaking on Wednesday at the UN General Assembly in New York, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Europe could not afford to lose Moldova on Russian influence, after having failed to save the Georgia and Belarus of the Moscow Orbit.

Zelensky said Russian President Vladimir Putin – who launched a large -scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 – “will continue to conduct the wider and deeper war” if he was not arrested.

Meanwhile, the pro -Russian parties of Moldova accused Sandu of having tried to intimidate them – and swing the vote.

They also say that his government is not far enough to combat generalized corruption.

Russia SVR’s foreign intelligence service this week accused European countries of plotting the “flagrant falsification” of the result on Sunday in order to cause demonstrations.

The SVR warned that the EU could set up “an armed occupation and a de facto occupation” of Moldova, falsely affirming that the EU was deploying troops.

Moldova declared its independence when the USSR collapsed in 1991, but it has a significant Russian -speaking population. The Transnistria escape region, supported by Moscow, still houses a contingent of Russian troops.