According to investigators, the banks of the former Soviet republic largely served the Russian oligarchs. “Unfortunately, Moldova has been one of the main channels between Russia and the West where dirty money has been laundered,” says WatchDog president Valerio Bassa.
According to investigators, some institutions and banks in Moldova were part of a chain that helped ration about $25 billion (about 540 billion crowns) from Russia. Moldindconbank from Moldova was also one of them.
According to the police analysis, the money entered the banking system through fake stores of companies in which homeless people appeared. “Sham’s transactions were the mechanism through which the money was rationed,” independent investigator Sergio Tofilat confirms.
The prosecuted oligarch fled the country
According to the Moldovan Prosecutor’s Office, local oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc is involved in money laundering. He is now being tried as a fugitive. “We must investigate what happened here, change the legislation and replace the corrupt judicial and police officials,” Tufilat says bluntly. “Judicial reform is underway in Moldova, and even President Maia Sandu has set it as her main goal,” recalls the Czech ambassador Stanislav Kazecki.
Part of the money from Moldova went to Europe through the accounts of three Czech banks. According to existing laws, the local police could only detain them temporarily, because they could not prove that they were from criminal activities due to poor cooperation with Russia.
“We are working with three different types of solution. It is a civil, administrative and criminal option,” estimates Deputy Minister of Justice Anton Stanislav (ODS). According to one of the offers, the recipient himself will have to prove the source of the funds.
“The effort to change the rules must be international so that the situation does not repeat itself. We are now investigating several criminal cases in Moldova,” added Mihai Bopsui, deputy speaker of the Moldovan Parliament.
According to investigators, most of the Russian money rationed through Moldovan accounts ended up in the European and American companies of the Russian oligarchs, and part of it was used to fund Russian propaganda in Europe.
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