Moldova has sent a request to the Swiss authorities for mutual legal assistance in connection with an investigation against the country’s richest oligarch, Vlad Plahotniuc. Switzerland’s Federal Office of Justice received the request to investigate the deposits of the former Democratic Party leader from the Moldovan authorities on August 26.

According to swissinfo.ch, Moldovan authorities have sent a request for mutual legal assistance to the Swiss authorities. The request was forwarded to the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Zurich, Switzerland’s leading financial hub.     

The Swiss Federal Office of Justice did not provide details on the request. However, according to the Swiss press, Moldova’s Public Prosecutor’s Office requested that Plahotniuc’s deposits in Zurich banks be frozen.  

When contacted by ZdG, the Prosecutor General’s spokesperson, Emil Gaitur, said he could not share details.

In July 2019, the Socialist deputy, Grigore Novac, informed the Moldovan Prosecutor General’s Office, that he had received information that the Swiss Prosecutor’s Office had filed a criminal case against the deputy Vladimir Plahotniuc.

However, representatives of the Swiss Prosecutor’s Office later stated that no criminal case was opened against Vlad Plahotniuc or Vlad Ulinici.

On September 10, Moldova’s Interior Minister Andrei Năstase, sent a request to the interim general prosecutor, Dumitru Robu, asking him to initiate a criminal investigation against Vladimir Plahotniuc, members of the former government and the current government, and judges suspected of committing acts of corruption or illicit enrichment. 

According to the Moldovan Ministry of the Interior, the request came as a result of notifications citizens submitted to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

According to the Prosecutor General’s spokesperson Emil Gaitur, after examining the request, the Prosecutor’s General Office forwarded the request to the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office for resolution.

During a live TV show broadcast on TVRMoldova on August 29, Năstase declared that an international search for Plahotniuc will soon be announced. 

“I hope that the Prosecutors will move faster than Plahotniuc and his accomplices are expecting, and then we will have the same procedure to initiate an international search warrant in his name and hold him criminally liable as soon as possible,” the Minister said during the show. 

In August 2019, ACUM Bloc deputy and Vice-President of the Parliament, Alexandru Slusari, filed a request for information on Plahotniuc’s 2011 transactions – accusing the oligarch of tax evasion. Now Moldova’s Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office is investigating the legality of the 2011 transactions of the former Democratic Party leader. 

• Why is the Prosecutor’s Office Investigating Plahotniuc’s 2011 Transactions?

Plahotniuc is also incriminated in a number of criminal cases in other countries. 

In April 2017, Romania’s Directorate for the Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism had opened a criminal case in Plahotniuc’s name, accusing him of establishing a criminal group, blackmailing, deceiving and money laundering.  

On August 5, 2019, Moscow’s Tverskoy court issued an arrest warrant for Vlad Plahotniuc as well, after accusing him in absentia of organizing a criminal group. The prosecutor has requested his extradition to the Russian Federation.