Elusive Plahotniuc. How’ s the Oligarch Keeping Out the Moldovan Justice’s Eye

Vladimir ROTAR The Democratic Party ex-leader left the United States territory, a place Chisinau unsuccessfully tried to get him over from the whole last year. He did it to unexpectedly appear in Turkey. Any chances to get Plahotniuc extradited to his homeland ever? The next episode of the long-playing Plahotniuc's Return to His Homeland serial was presented to the wide audience this week. While Chisinau lamented about the American partners’ frivolous approach to the case of former Moldova’ master extradition, the latter unexpectedly left the United States and ended up in the Republic of Turkey. It was the Balti mayor and presidential candidate Renato Usatii to first announce it and later on Ankara confirmed the oligarch's entry into Turkish territory. It is curious that according to American internal security agencies’ open data, Plahotniuc left the United States at the end of August. Such a move could actually be predicted, especially after the Interpol File Control Commission refused including the former Democratic Party leader on the list of persons put on the international wanted list, and has even removed databases information about him. Chisinau was clearly not ready for such a turn and that got proved by (among other things) the chaotic nature of relevant state bodies’ official reaction to. The Ministry of Internal Affairs initially noted that they "took note of the information that appeared in the public domain" and sent corresponding requests to the authorities of the United States, Romania and Turkey. However, the tone of ministry's statements radically changed the very next day: it was reported that in the context of the ex- PDM leader search, numerous steps were taken through international channels and that the Ministry of Internal Affairs “has long had information that Vlad Plahotniuc left the United States and crossed the border with Turkey and Romania”. At the same time, this information was not brought to the public attention, allegedly not to interfere with establishing the oligarch’s whereabouts and arrest actions. Now, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, due to politicians’ statements and information published in the media, the efforts of law enforcement agencies have been jeopardized. “The Moldovan authorities are in constant contact with their partners in other countries and are making every single effort to establish tPlahotniuc’s whereabouts with a view to his extradition. We note that leaks in the press and some politicians statements on this topic can seriously affect the extradition procedures and threaten the persecution of persons hiding outside the country, ” the Interior Ministry stated. The Prosecutor General's Office sent a request to Turkey’s competent authorities regarding Vlad Plahotniuc’s extradition to Moldova, so that to bring him to criminal responsibility. Generally, Chisinau’s reaction looks as an attempt to put on a good face on it. Plahotniuc has long and successfully hid from the Moldovan justice in the United States and now, it seems will continue doing so in Turkey. And not only there: according to the information of the same Usatii, Plahotniuc may have purchased air tickets to Cyprus. Is the oligarch’s exodus from the United States to make his return to Moldova process easier? Apparently, not much easier. Plahotniuc's lawyer has already stated his client is not worried about extradition requests sent to Ankara, since “outside the Republic of Moldova it’s the justice system that works”. This confidence is quite reasonable. As you know, the former chief democrat once developed very good relations with the current Turkish leadership and personally with President Recep Erdogan that he met with during his visit to Moldova. It was during the oligarch reign that the Moldovan-Turkish relations received a serious impetus, including in terms of the investments inflow into our republic and implementation of various projects on the Moldovan territory. As a reciprocal service, Chisinau suffered serious image losses and handed over seven Turkish teachers to Ankara and that had a serious resonance both inside and outside the country. In addition, there raise serious doubts about the actions of the themselves Moldovan authorities’ effectiveness to return the fugitive oligarch home. Each failure within reinforces more and more the hypothesis that various government agencies do deliberately sabotage this process. For example, even Prosecutor General Alexander Stoyanoglo admitted that case materials on the basis of which the authorities asked Interpol to put Vlad Plahotniuc on the wanted list, were weak enough and that is why the appeal got rejected. Finding out why were they weak: be it because of their performers’ unprofessionalism or because them not being motivated by the ultimate success, well that would also be nice to figure out. After the new turn in the Plahotniuc case, the right-wing opposition began complaining that events taking place over the past year are being links of the same chain and indicate to a possible agreement between the oligarch and the current regime, thus, grounding preparation for his return home. It is unclear how realistic the prospect of such a comeback is. If taking seriously the words of Filat’s ex-lawyer Igor Popa, then the United States is counting on him in some missions, so Plahotniuc claimed. This may well explain both: all the oddities surrounding his extradition from American territory and the suspicious Chisinau’s sluggishness when promoting the process of persecuting Plahotniuc. And not only him: as we recall, the case of Ilan Shor is also very hard getting along, and that has already caused the European Union’s clear discontent. Anyway, one thing is to be said for sure: for over a year-lasting process of cleansing the system from oligarchic elements, these elements’ main symbols do still remain at large. Even more, the authorities make no extra efforts to bring these persons to justice. Against this background, one would likely get the impression that even if Plahotniuc returns to Moldova, then it happens on his own terms and obviously not to get to prison.