Press on Moldova captive state and the role of Plahotniuc

This is a concise collection of the European and international press

• (Der Spiegel, The Guardian, Frankfurter Allgemeine, BBC, The New York Times, Business New Europe, Deutsche Welle, Wiener Zeitung, The Hill, Free Europe, Huffington Post and others)

and reports of international monitoring organisations

• (Freedom House, Global Research, Centre for Eastern Studies, Transparency International, PACE, European Council on Foreign Relations, US Atlantic Council, Jamestown Foundation, The Royal Institute of International Affairs, Friedrich Naumann Foundation Germany and others)

on Moldova captive state and role of Plahotniuc.

▉ 10 August 2015, Thorbjørn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, article „Bring Moldova Back From the Brink” in The New York Times:

The state is still in the hands of oligarchs. [...] The government must immediately begin purging corrupt officials from public bodies. [...] As a start, the dozens of judges — some very high-profile — who have been accused of egregiously abusing their power should be investigated. [...] The Anti-Corruption Center, the National Integrity Commission and the General Prosecutor’s Office must be set on an independent footing. [...] This captured state must be returned to its citizens.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/11/opinion/bring-moldova-back-from-the-brink.html?_r=1


▉ 1 July 2016, Vladimir Socor, Jamestown Foundation, Washington:

It is confirmed that the Republic of Moldova is a captured state, and not by oligarchy, but by a single person (Plahotniuc). A person that does not have equivalent in the RM as wealth and influence and who can manipulate justice and other systems in his own interest.

http://jurnal.md/en/opinii/2016/7/1/vladimir-socor-about-theft-of-billion-in-context-of-last-disclosures-eu-intervention-is-needed-as-urgently-as-possible-plahotniuc-maneuvers-with-secret-information-which-only-he-knows/


▉ 4 October 2016, Free Europe, Kalman Mizsei, EU diplomat, former EU representative in Moldova:

The Republic of Moldova is in an unusual situation, because all the power is in the hands of one person. We must regard these elections through the question: how can we regain the power, concentrated in the hands of one man, in the hands of Mr Plahotniuc?

http://www.europalibera.org/a/28030562.html


▉ 11 April 2016, Centre for Eastern Studies, report “Moldova: from oligarchic pluralism to Plahotniuc’s hegemony” by Kamil Całus:

Plahotniuc already not only controls the judiciary, the anti-corruption institutions, the Constitutional Court and the economic structures, but has also subordinated the greater part of parliament and is rapidly tightening his grip on the section of the state apparatus. [...] Plahotniuc's power and position depends directly on his control of the state apparatus and financial flows in Moldova. [...] As a result, in addition to the institutions they already controlled (the judiciary, anti-corruption institutions, the National Bank of Moldova (NBM) and the Constitutional Court), Plahotniuc’s clan gained control of the fiscal and customs services (which are a serious source of revenue from corruption) and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the police. [...] Despite public and international protests, Plahotniuc’ clan has been tightening their grip on the institutions he already controls. One example of this was the re-election of Mihai Poalelungi on 7 February 2016 as president of the Supreme Court.

http://www.osw.waw.pl/en/publikacje/osw-commentary/2016-04-11/moldova-oligarchic-pluralism-to-plahotniucs-hegemony


▉ 26 February 2015, Der Spiegel, article "NATO Warning: Putin focused his attention on Republic of Moldova" by Keno Verseck:

Due to their murky business ties with Russia, the Moldovan oligarchs also have little interest in an EU integration process. The businessman Vlad Plahotniuc, 49, is the embodiment of this elite. The grey eminence of the Democratic Party, he is one of the most important power brokers in the Republic of Moldova. He is said to have made his fortune, estimated at several hundred million Euros, in part through so-called raider attacks on Moldovan banks and insurance companies. The term refers to the theft of shares in companies, legalized with the help of corrupt judges and officials.

http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/republik-moldau-nato-warnt-vor-russischer-aggression-a-1020428.html


▉ Freedom House, report “Nations in transit, Moldova, 2012”:

In 2011, fraudulent misappropriation of stock from chief shareholders in five financial institutions set off a chain of investigations and recrimination between different political parties and public institutions. The so-called “raider attacks” reflected the insecurity of a number of Moldova’s largest financial institutions, and the affair became symbolic of political manipulation of the justice system.

Meanwhile, disclosure of a secret coalition agreement allocating decisions about who would fill leadership positions in judicial and police institutions to the coalition partners also raised questions about the independence of these theoretically apolitical offices. […] News of the actual fraud (the so-called “raider attacks”) was soon followed by charges that justice and judicial officials had either failed to act in the case or supported the perpetrators. Two of the main victims of the fraud, Viorel and Victor Topa […] Prime Minister Filat called for the dismissal of several top officials discredited by the raider attack scandals, including the prosecutor general, the head of the Information and Security Service, and the president of the National Commission of Financial Markets.

http://www.freedomhouse.org/report/nations-transit/2012/moldova


▉ 6 February 2015, within the the TV show "Ora Expertizei", Veaceslav Negruta, Moldovan Minister of Finance 2009-2013:

The deplorable situation of “Banca de Economii” derives from 2011, the moment when 18.5% of shares were fraudulently expropriated from the two businessmen – Victor and Viorel Topa.

http://jurnal.md/ro/economic/2015/2/5/jocuri-murdare-in-sistemul-bancar-banca-nationala-a-autorizat-furtul-de-la-bem/


▉ 11 October 2016, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Declaration no. 617, document 14169:

Key witnesses, such as Victor and Viorel Topa [...], who publicly expressed their willingness to testify about the involvement of tycoon Plahotniuc in money laundering and illegal financial operations, were subjected to political persecution.

http://semantic-pace.net/tools/pdf.aspx?doc=aHR0cDovL2Fzc2VtYmx5LmNvZS5pbnQvbncveG1sL1hSZWYvWDJILURXLWV4dHIuYXNwP2ZpbGVpZD0yMzEzNCZsYW5nPUVO&xsl=aHR0cDovL3NlbWFudGljcGFjZS5uZXQvWHNsdC9QZGYvWFJlZi1XRC1BVC1YTUwyUERGLnhzbA==&xsltparams=ZmlsZWlkPTIzMTM0


▉ 20 May 2016, Iulian Chifu, the ex-counsellor of the President of Romania, with regard to the interview of Plahotniuc of 12 May 2016 (http://deschide.md/ro/news/politic/27287/EXCLUSIV-VPlahotniucdespre-vizita-%C3%AEn-SUA-%C8%99i-adev%C4%83ra%C8%9Bii-%E2%80%9Eamici%E2%80%9D-ai-RM.htm):

[In his interview] Plahotniuc provides concrete information about his "enemies". [...] This includes Victor and Viorel Topa, the only rivals whom he deems worthy of naming explicitly, as well as the "puppet" of "criminal fugitives", who again remains unnamed but clearly refers to Andrei Nastase.

http://deschide.md/ro/news/editorial/27524/Un-fapt-de-pres%C4%83-tratat-cu-indiferen%C5%A3%C4%83-interviul-lui-Vladimit-Plahotniuc.htm


▉ 5 September 2013, Business New Europe, Berlin, article “Unseen forces wrest control over top Moldovan banks”, by Graham Stack:

Former shareholders in both banks claim they fell victim to "raider attacks", i.e., illegal expropriation. The identity of the new owners is unknown, but are allegedly linked to oligarch Vlad Plahotniuc and his group.

http://www.bne.eu/storyf5324/Unseen_forces_wrest_control_over_top_Moldovan_banks


▉ 28 May 2013, Andrew Wilson, Senior Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of International Affairs, London, article “The Shot Heard From Moscow to Brussels”:

The Democrats, financed by Vladimir Plahotniuc, Moldova’s lone “oligarch,” took over the legal sector. They already controlled many courts, which they had used to protect the financial operations of the old Communist elite – and indeed to take over many of those operations. Although now in opposition, the Communists therefore de facto helped the Democrats by continuing to block attempts to reform the system they had set up before 2009. But the Democrats also pushed hard to expand their influence, adding the Prosecutor General’s office and the National Anti-Corruption Centre (NAC) to their empire. The NAC was set up with good intentions in 2002 but turned into its ironic opposite: its legal powers were used to soften up and take over businesses targeted by Plahotniuc.

The scourge of so-called raiderstvo [corporate raiding] actually increased. In 2010-2011 Moldova-Agroindbank (the largest domestic bank), Victoriabank (the second largest), Banca de Economii (the Savings Bank of Moldova) and the largest insurance company, ASITO, all saw sudden and often unexplained changes of ownership to obscure offshore companies, usually on the basis of secret court proceedings. Two of the alleged victims, Victor and Viorel Topa, now have a case before the English courts, accusing Plahotniuc of orchestrating the change to seize their assets. Banca de Economii has also been accused of laundering $53 million out of the $230 million for the Russian suspects in the Magnitsky case.

http://www.tol.org/client/article/23792-moldova-ruling-coalition.html


▉ 09 February 2016, Frankfurter Allgemeine, „A shady powerseeker Oligarch Vlad Plahotniuc is running the Republic of Moldova”, by Karl-Peter Schwarz,

Under Voronin he (*Vladimir Plahotniuc) is alleged to have organised large-scale thefts from banks and companies. Hostile takeovers, carried out by criminals with the help of corrupt or blackmailed judges, state prosecutors and policemen, are a typical post-Soviet phenomenon. The new "owners" are usually anonymous firms in off-shore paradise locations. For years, Russian crime syndicates have been using the Moldovan banks as money laundering outlets. They (*Viorel Topa and Victor Topa) are the victims of a blatant raid, masterminded, they allege, by Plahotniuc. At an annual assembly of the shareholders of the Victoria Bank, their representatives were suddenly confronted with the declaration that the ownership structure had been changed. The evening before, a group of judges had secretly and simultaneously in five different judgements ordered the seizure of the shares of both businessmen. Victor Topa alleged that on the same day he was threatened by Plahotniuc over the phone. If he were to make the matter public, criminal proceedings would be taken against him. And that is just what happened. Both businessmen fled to Germany. In November 2012, Plahotniuc was dropped as Deputy Speaker. He was accused of "the subversion of state institutions, the illegal expropriation of shares in financial companies and of influencing investigations".

http://plus.faz.net/evr-editions/2016-02-09/34013/208264.html


▉ 18 May 2016, Wiener Zeitung, „Republic of Moldova: I am the State (Der Staat bin ich) - How the unelected Vlad Plahotniuc governs the Republic of Moldova”, by Eva Konzett:

Moldovans don’t believe in the paranormal. For them, the invisible hand has a name: Vlad Plahotniuc, the country’s richest entrepreneur and president of the Democratic Party. He controls everything. He has never held elected office. [...] Plahotniuc exploited his position to secure his influence in the state and to tap resources.

http://www.wienerzeitung.at/nachrichten/europa/europastaaten/819034_Der-Staat-bin-ich.html


▉ 30 April 2013, The Guardian, London, article “Moldova weighs up implications of overtures from EU and Russia”, by Luke Harding:

Key ministries in Moldova have been divided along party lines, with Plahotniuc's Democrats in control of the powerful prosecutor's office – capable of initiating criminal investigations –and the anti-corruption agency. Plahotniuc is a controversial figure in Romania: according to leaked Interpol documents he has been investigated in Italy in connection with money-laundering.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/apr/30/moldova-implications-overtures-eu-russia


▉ 18 February 2015, Frankfurter Allgemeine, article “A different sort of bank robbery” by Karl-Peter Schwarz:

The super-oligarch Plahotniuc secured control of the justice system for himself, including the Prosecutor General’s office and the Anti-Corruption Centre (NAC). […] The Liberals had insisted that the post of Prosecutor General be conferred on an independent prosecutor from one of the EU countries. But this was out of the question for Filat and Plahotniuc.

http://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/ausland/europa/wahl-in-moldau-entscheidung-zwischen-eu-und-russland-13290118.html


▉ 30 July 2014, Stephen Sackur, BBC (HARDtalk on BBC World News and the BBC News Channel), interview with Iurie Leanca, the then-Prime Minister of Moldova:

Stephen Sackur: [...] "Mr Plohotniuc is the leader of the democrats, a key coalition member of your government. He still... his party still in effect appoints key positions, like the Prosecutor General, the Prosecutor in the Anticorruption Department (Head of the National Anticorruption Centre). These people who are under a cloud of suspicion are still at the very top of your government. [...] Why is Mr Plahotniuc still a key member of your governing coalition? Why was his party given the authority to appoint the Prosecutor General?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgbfTNU_cx0&feature=youtu.be, http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04dqrqp,http://jurnal.md/ro/news/interviul-integral-cu-premierul-iurie-leanca-la-bbc-1174280/


▉ 12 May 2013, within the EU-Ukraine Forum, Krynica International Economic Forum, Budapest, the former ambassador of Moldova to the U.N., Alexei Tulbure, discourse “Moldova is a perfect example of the so called captured state”:

The main author and beneficiary of raider captures is nobody else but the actual leader of the Democratic Party, member of the AEI, and one of the leaders of the ruling coalition Mr Vladimir Plahotniuc, who has been monitored by Interpol since 2007. […] Courts, Prosecutor’s, National Centre for Combat of Corruption, Broadcasters Steering Council, regulating public agencies and so on – all fell under control of the Democratic Party, i.e. of Mr Plahotniuc. He got control over institutions that enable him to avoid responsibility for the crimes he commits.

http://enews.md/blogs/view/3366/


▉ 24 October 2014, Deutsche Welle, article “Moldovan justice, the most corrupt in the world”:

This is the conclusion of the Global Competitiveness Report (2014-2015), conducted by the World Economic Forum. Moldova ranked last in global rankings on corruption in the judiciary – position 144. Moldova’s place is the worst in the "illicit payments and bribes to obtain favourable judgments.

http://www.dw.de/justi%C8%9Bia-moldoveneasc%C4%83-cea-mai-corupt%C4%83-din-lume/a-18019515?maca=rum-rss-rom-moldova-4125-xml-mrss


▉ 12 August 2015, GLOBAL RESEARCH report "Crisis, Corruption and ‘Regime Change’ in Moldova":

A large part of this money (n.r. 1 billion dollars) originally was the EU public loan. Credits weren’t surrendered. Leancă helped oligarchs Ilan Shor and Vladimir Plahotniuc to steal the money of National Bank of Moldova through these banks. Thus, oligarchs have been turning Moldova into a feudal state where about 50 percent of male population works in foreign states while their families are almost hostages in Moldova. The corrupt system of the oligarch dictatorship prevents the situation when people could improve their welfare inside the system or overcome such a system.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/crisis-corruption-and-regime-change-in-moldova/5468846


▉ On 11 November 2015, Stefan Füle, Seminar of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, „EU ex-commissioner, harsh criticism toward power from Chisinau: Several oligarchs and politicians have privatized institutions and have transformed them in weapons”:

The problem in Moldova is that the political leaders, and I am not happy to tell that including from the pro-European coalition, instead on strengthening the independence of the democratic institutions, chose to privatize and use them as weapons in political fights. I feel sorry to tell that, but in this country, the system which we know how it must be, in which the democratic institutions play the main role, has based on the balance of personal interest of several politicians and oligarchs. [...] Some of us, coming in your country, seeing so many EU flags, start to ask ourselves whether we are used as alibi for a set of totally different policies, which do not have anything in common with Europe.

http://jurnal.md/en/politic/2015/11/11/eu-ex-commissioner-dull-critics-toward-power-from-chisinau-several-oligarchs-and-politicians-have-privatized-institutions-and-have-transformed-them-in-weapons/


▉ 30 August 2013, the EU co-rapporteurs Ms Lise Christoffersen, Norway, and Mr Piotr Wach, Poland, within the report “Honouring of obligations and commitments by the Republic of Moldova” before the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe:

The Assembly remains particularly concerned about the level of corruption in the judiciary, the police, and the education and health systems, which is seriously undermining the confidence of the citizens in their institutions and the correct functioning of public institutions.

▉ U.S. Department of State, report on Human Rights in Moldova for 2013, published on 27 February 2014:

The most significant human rights problem in the country during the year was corruption, particularly in the judicial sector. Judicial institutions resisted the implementation of anticorruption measures outlined in the justice sector reform process.

http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2013/eur/220308.htm


▉ 12 November 2015, Vladimir Socor from the Jamestown Foundation, Washington, article "The gorilla’s name should not be kept in silence, as European diplomats did in the past. The problem must be addressed by the international law-enforcing institutions":

Moldova will stay in a deadlock and the reforms will be stagnating as long as the international law-enforcing institutions will not address the problem of the state captured by the oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc. [...] The name of the 500-pound gorilla should not be kept in silence. This is the core issue to be addressed, but not like some European diplomats did in the past, trying to be silence only because they fear Mr. Plahotniuc. The international law-enforcing institutions must address this issue seriously. [...] It is unacceptable that one single party (the Democratic Party of Plahotniuc) has control over the law institutions and appoints the key positions in the judiciary. [...] In Moldova, there is a party and a governmental clan that massively dominates the law institutions, the judicial system and uses these levers selectively against the political opponents. Also they use these tools to constantly remind that they can fabricate criminal cases against their political opponents or critics.

http://jurnal.md/ro/politic/2015/11/12/socor-despre-plahotniuc-numele-gorilei-nu-trebuie-tinut-in-tacere-asa-cum-au-facut-unii-diplomati-europeni-problema-trebuie-abordata-de-institutiile-de-drept-internationale/


▉ 18 May 2015, Business New Europe, Berlin, article "Scottish shell companies at centre of $1bn Moldovan bank fraud scheme" by Graham Stack:

The Plahotniuc connection. Edinburgh firms Victoria Invest Limited, Financial Investments Corporation Limited, and Maxpower Invest Limited were all named in connection with the alleged expropriation and subsequent transfer of stakes in Moldova’s banks, with some of the expropriated shareholders bringing a court case in London. A court disclosure order in 2012 revealed that the beneficiary owner of both Financial Investments and Maxpower Invest was Vlad Plahotniuc, Moldova’s richest man and at the time deputy first speaker of Moldova’s unicameral parliament.

http://www.bne.eu/content/story/trail-scottish-shell-companies-1bn-moldovan-bank-fraud-leads-top-0


▉ 03 July 2016, The Hill, Washington, Dr. Theodore Karasik, Lexington Institute and a national security, article “Moldova’s Tywin Lannister?”:

Vladimir Plahotniuc, the only Moldovan oligarch [...] „privatized” the Democratic Party, the Parliament coalition, the courts, the Anti-Corruption Commission, Commission for National Integrity, Prosecutor General’s office, and the police. State capture is complete. [...] The U.S. (and Europe) should support clean presidential and parliamentary elections. That means, no odious politicians, such as Plahotniuc, to be viable candidates for top public offices.

http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/286262-moldovas-tywin-lannister


▉ 22 July 2016, Huffington Post, USA, "IMF Caught in Moldova’s Corruption Vortex, Time For The West To Wake Up", by Luke Coffey, Director of the Foreign Policy Center at the Heritage Foundation:

In other words, taxpayer’s money from the U.S. and the EU, with the possible help from impoverished Moldovans, is used to line the pockets of some of Eastern Europe’s wealthiest oligarchs. To return these funds and to stop systemic money laundering, U.S. personal sanctions against Plahotniuc and his cronies, modeled on the Magnitsky List, would be a good start.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/luke-coffey/imf-caught-in-moldovas-co_b_11051150.html


▉ 04 August 2016, Senior Researcher at the US Atlantic Council, Ariel Cohen, during the TV show "Tipping Point" at One America News Network:

The most important thing is that USD 18 billion have been laundered through the country's banking system. Therefore, the banking system was privatized and captured by oligarchs, and the most important one is Vlad Plahotniuc. They have laundered twice the country's GDP. Imagine that the US GDP is USD 17 trillion, and, reporting to our country, the amount of money laundered would be USD 40 trillion. Later, they stole USD 1 billion from the reserves of the central bank, which is 20% of the country's GDP, that would be USD 1 trillion stolen from the US GDP. Moldova is now in a situation called "captured state", which means that an oligarch, or several oligarchs, are controlling the Parliament, the banking system (and we know what they did to the banking system - they turned it into a laundromat), restaurants, distribution of energy resources. Everything is controlled by Vlad Plahotniuc and his close friends. There is a pending US investigation against Plahotniuc's close friends; however, he is believed to be the most involved.

http://agora.md/stiri/21327/video--televiziune-americana-privim-o-versiune-moldoveneasca-a-house-of-cards--sistemul-este-incredibil-de-corupt


▉ 8 March 2017, Chatham House, The Royal Institute of International Affairs, “Moldova: The Captured State on Europe’s Edge” by Cristina Gherasimov:

Several MPs reported that they were either coerced or paid via intermediaries of Vladimir Plahotniuc, the controversial oligarch and President of the Democratic Party that leads the current governing coalition. Moldova is therefore witnessing a rapid monopolization of power in the hands of the Democratic Party both at national and local levels. [...] Peculiar to Moldovan state capture is the increased concentration of power within the hands of a single individual – Plahotniuc, behind the façade of the Democratic Party.

https://www.chathamhouse.org/expert/comment/moldova-captured-state-europe-s-edge?utm_source=Chatham%20House&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=8080018_Publication%20Alert%20Cristina%20Gherasimov%20EC%2008032017&dm_i=1S3M,4T6KY,NUTBWJ,I4QNJ,1#


▉ 04 December 2015, Ion Diacov, Ex-prosecutor of Chisinau, stated that "The Prosecutor General, Corneliu Gurin, is controlled by the businessman Vlad Plahotniuc. The public prosecution is not able to fight with the oligarchy, and the Republic of Moldova is a captive state.",

Prosecutor General's Office does not fight with oligarchs and corrupt prosecutors because it needs them. The contests for the employment and promotion of prosecutors are made ostensibly whereas the winners are known in advance. They put their people. The Prosecutor General is controlled by Democratic Party, which in turn controls the Prosecutor General's Office. It was a case when a prosecutor, inconvenient to them, accidentally won the promotion contest. Because he was not wanted in the office, they have commenced a criminal case against him and announced a repeated contest.

http://www.ipn.md/ro/politica/73376


▉ 27 May 2016, Andrei Popov, former ambassador in Vienna and former member of the National Political Council of the Democratic Party, on the power that Plahotniuc holds in Moldova - the "pyramid of subordination" involving most key state institutions:

Plahotniuc wants to control and direct processes. But since he is not a public figure and is used to a certain kind of management where everyone obeys him, he creates a power hierarchy. [...] The first level is the Democratic Party, which he has made subject to his own ends. Mr Lupu is nothing more than a department head in a large holding company. The second level is the Government, the Prime Minister, key ministers from the ministries of the Economy, Finance, Justice, and of the Interior, the Secretary General of the Government, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Information Technology, Customs... all are under his control. And the PDM has a majority in Parliament. Many key state institutions are subordinate to him. They do as they are told. Many judges and prosecutors are part of this pyramid.

http://unimedia.info/stiri/video-andrei-popov-multe-institutii-cheie-din-stat-fac-parte-din-piramida-holdingului-plahotniuc-115571.html


▉ 06 October 2016, Vladimir Socor, Jamestown Foundation, Washington, interview to Ziare.com:

Plahotniuc is not even an oligarch, as oligarchy is a group system. He is the master, who concentrated the financial and political power in his hands. [...] The party (PDM) led de facto by Plahotniuc and completely dependent on his financing obtained judiciary and law-enforcing institutions. Since then, the persons nominated by Plahotniuc are controlling the Prosecutor General's Office, National Anticorruption Centre, National Integrity Commission, regulatory agencies for economics, Ministry of Economy, and key positions in leading state-owned economic institutions. [...] The fundamental issue is the state captured by Plahotniuc, who controls the political and economic system without having any constitutional or legal responsibility. It is an informal master.

http://www.ziare.com/europa/moldova/tragedia-din-moldova-statul-kompromatului-cele-mai-detestate-cuvinte-sunt-astazi-reforma-si-europa-interviu-1439052


▉ 23 November 2015, EU Reporter, London, article of James Drew:

Viorel Topa: “If we had not left Moldova five years ago, we would be in jail and probably not alive today”.

https://www.eureporter.co/world/2015/11/23/if-we-had-not-left-moldova-five-years-ago-we-would-be-in-jail-and-probably-not-alive-today/


▉ 4 May 2017, Kamil Całus and Wojciech Konończuk, Center for Eastern Studies (Carnegie Europe), "Explaining Oligarchic Moldova":

Plahotniuc succeeded in subordinating Moldova’s parliamentary majority to himself and creating a new government headed by his longtime aide, Pavel Filip. Plahotniuc’s power is also based on a full takeover of the state apparatus, including control of the judiciary, the Prosecutor General’s Office, and the National Anticorruption Center. No independent institutions remain in Moldova. [...] The authorities’ fight against corruption is not a goal in itself, but a means to eliminate Plahotniuc’s enemies.

http://carnegieeurope.eu/strategiceurope/69856?lang=en


▉ 26 July 2017, Brussels, EPP and ALDE, two largest and most influential political parties of the European Parliament, join forces to call on EU institutions to re-evaluate EU-Moldova Association Agreement following democratic setback:

We have major concerns and doubts that the Moldovan justice system, controlled by Plahotniuc and his PDM-PSRM alliance, will be able to ensure a transparent investigation, a fair trial or an impartial verdict. The EPP and ALDE call on the EU institutions, including the European External Action Service, as well as on the Council of Europe, to immediately evaluate the decline of the rule of law and democratic standards in the Republic of Moldova, to stop any EU funding, to apply the strictest conditionality to any future financial assistance and to re-evaluate as soon as possible the EU-Moldova Association Agreement.

http://news.epp.eu/zDEA0Khttps://www.aldeparty.eu/news/alde-and-epp-join-forces-call-eu-institutions-re-evaluate-eu-moldova-association-agreement


▉ 18 December 2017, Friedrich Naumann Foundation, Germany, “Moldova is facing a severe lack of justice independence, generalised corruption and limited press freedom”:

"Lack of independence of judiciary is the main obstacle to the implementation of the rule of law in Moldova. [...] Political pressure on judges or removal of non-compliant or critical ones is a visible and repeated practice."

https://seenews.com/news/moldovas-judiciary-obsolete-ruinous-friedrich-naumann-foundation-595037

▉ 09 January 2018, Forbes, “17 Oligarchs Who Are Shaping Eastern Europe”:

"Vlad Plahotniuc holds a public function that he made up for himself - coordinator of the ruling Alliance. He managed to capture most of the state institutions. He has built around him a shady financial empire and hired a bunch of experts to work on all sorts of schemes and to draft laws. Plahotniuc created a media trust that often operates with false news, aimed at denigrating political opponents. On social networks, he has set up a real ‘troll army’. Its main goal is to create him the image of a businessman, philanthropist, diplomat, good governor, etc. His tactic is to subordinate people who are standing in his way through blackmail and pressure. The Democratic Party, which he runs, manages huge amounts of money gathered from dubious donations."

https://forbes.ge/news/3278/17-Oligarchs-Who-Are-Shaping-Eastern-Europe

▉ 09 January 2019, The Epoch Times, Romania, and Moldova.org, “Vladimir Socor: Moldova led by Plahotniuc has come to the brink of political and moral bankruptcy":

"The Republic of Moldova is deeply ill, where the state was usurped by a group of interests led by a single person (Plahotniuc), in which the rule of law was abolished, where there is no free market, where the press and justice are controlled by private interests."

https://www.moldova.org/en/vladimir-socor-moldova-led-plahotniuc-come-brink-political-moral-bankruptcy/
http://epochtimes-romania.com/news/vladimir-socor-r-moldova-condusa-de-plahotniuc-a-ajuns-in-pragul-falimentarii-politice-si-morale---282792?fbclid=IwAR1LIYohKjumqK2j5eaN3hhRjf4ei7GACB-8dDn9o0tsRE396iTJyy-6DW8

▉ 21 August 2019, The Daily Beast, “By Pushing Out Filthy Rich Vladimir Plahotniuc, Moldova Takes the Lead in Ending the Era of the Oligarchs":

“People want Plahotniuc to pay for all the abuses and crimes he has committed. Our people want him in prison and of course the court will decide for how many years. State companies financed his business empire, he tried to create a gray zone out of Moldova, while our banks channeled laundered billions coming from Russia to many countries around the world. Plahotniuc took businesses from people, persecuted critics, put several men in prison. Every day we are astonished to discover new cases of corruption involving Plahotniuc in banking, scrap metal, media and communication sectors, criminal schemes for billions of dollars, involving several countries” (Maia Sandu)
“Plahotniuc should be on trial for usurpation of power; the entire people of Moldova will act as witnesses.” (Chiril Lucinschi)

https://www.thedailybeast.com/by-pushing-out-filthy-rich-vladimir-plahotniuc-moldova-takes-the-lead-in-de-oligarchization?ref=scroll