Former leader of the Moldovan Democratic Party Volodymyr Plahotniuc was extradited from Greece to Moldova on September 25. This happened six years after he fled the country.
This is reported by Newsmaker.
The video shows Plahotniuc getting off the plane and then being put in a car in handcuffs.
Volodymyr Plahotniuc was detained in Greece on July 22. Former Democratic Party MP Konstantin Tsoutsa, who was considered Plahotniucʼs confidant for many years, was also detained at the Athens airport.
They were about to fly to Dubai. During searches conducted by law enforcement officers at their rented villa in Greece, dozens of forged documents, luxury items, and money in various currencies were found.
Tsutsa was released and banned from leaving Greece. However, according to IPN sources, he is currently in Transnistria.
As for Plahotniuc, the request for his extradition, in addition to Moldova, was also submitted by the Russian Federation.
Earlier, the head of the General Inspectorate of Police stated that after extradition to Chisinau, Plahotniuc will be detained for 30 days in correctional colony No. 13. And on September 24, the Minister of Justice stated that he will be held in a separate cell for security reasons.
Who is Volodymyr Plahotniuc?
Plahotniuc is the richest person in Moldova, the first vice-speaker of the Parliament of Moldova (from December 30, 2010 to February 15, 2013). He was a deputy of the Moldovan Parliament twice. His Democratic Party has been in power since 2014, but later discredited itself due to corruption and scandals. In the last parliamentary elections in 2021, it failed to enter parliament.
He fled Moldova in June 2019 and lived in the United States for a long time, but in January 2020 his stay there was declared undesirable.
In Moldova, arrest warrants were issued for him in three criminal cases, including complicity in the theft of a billion dollars from Moldovan banks in 2014. In Moldova, he is also considered involved in an attempt to destabilize the country. Interpol put Plahotniuc on the international wanted list on February 7, 2025.
Plahotniuc is under sanctions from the US and the European Union.
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