Vladimir Cebotari: I don’t Expect Interpol to Issue a Red Notice

Democratic MP Vladimir Cebotari said that he does not expect Interpol to issue a red notice for Vladimir Plahotniuc, declared wanted by Moldovan authorities as of yesterday. In his opinion, the Interpol issues red notices based on clear evidence, not on interpretations, thus Vladimir Plahotniuc will not be extradited. The statements were made at the TV8 show “Cutia neagră”. At the same time Vladimir Cebotari said that the request for the international arrest of Vladimir Plahotniuc was made on October 17, which means that the authorities did not expect him to answer their summons. “What happened on the next or third day after Mr Plahotniuc’s lawyers requested more time for their client to answer the summons? In order to prevent him from returning to the country, a national arrest warrant was issued. This is quite telling. Once the arrest warrant was issued, it was clear from the outset that the intent was to imprison the man, not to investigate the case. The authorities basically said: “do not return or we will arrest you, no matter what you say”, said Cebotari. Deputy Parliament Speaker Alexandru Slusari said that Plahotniuc’s international arrest warrant was issued 4 years late. According to him, the “Kroll report” list of beneficiaries of the bank fraud starts with the name Vladimir Plahotniuc and a few of his companies and his entourage. “This piece of evidence was available to the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office since March 22, 2018. We can assume that due to incompetent prosecutors the case was not investigated for several years. However, even if we assume this hypothesis, the Kroll Company confirmed forwarding the Kroll II report which contained the list of beneficiaries to the PA on March 22, 2018. A criminal investigation should have commenced then”, said Alexandru Slusari. Lawyer Ion Crețu considers that if an international arrest warrant on Vladimir Plahotniuc’s name was issued, then this is supported by evidence, especially in the context that he was granted enough time to answer the summons of the prosecutors. “In this regard, I believe that if his right was respected, it means that some evidence are accumulated”, said the lawyer. Additionally, Ion Crețu said that he doubts that Vladimir Plahotniuc can be brought back to the country to face justice. Yesterday, October 29, the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office issued an international arrest warrant for former PDM leader Vladimir Plahotniuc, who until then was nationally wanted based on a provisionally arrest warrant.