A fugitive oligarch from Moldova accused of a $1 billion (€850 million) bank fraud and other illicit schemes was detained in Greece on Tuesday, Moldova’s national police said.
Vladimir Plahotniuc fled Moldova in 2019, as he faced a series of corruption charges, including allegations of complicity in a scheme that led to $1 billion disappearing from a Moldovan bank in 2014, which at the time was equivalent to around one-eighth of the country's annual GDP.
Plahotniuc has denied any wrongdoing.
Moldovan police said in a statement they were informed by Interpol’s office in Athens that two Moldovan citizens had been detained, including Plahotniuc, who was placed on Interpol's international wanted list in February.
Authorities did not name the other detainee.
The Greek police unit tackling organised crime said Interpol was seeking Plahotniuc on suspicion of participating in a criminal organisation, fraud and money laundering.
Moldova's Ministry of Justice and Prosecutor’s Office are in the process of exchanging information to begin seeking extradition of Plahotniuc and the other detainee, a government official told AP.
Plahotniuc, one of Moldova’s wealthiest men, fled to the US from Moldova in June 2019 after failing to form a government with his Democratic Party.
The US declared him persona non grata in 2020, and his whereabouts were unknown for years.
The influential businessman and politician was added to a US State Department sanctions list in 2022 for alleged corruption.
The charges included controlling the country's law enforcement to target political and business rivals and meddling in Moldova’s elections.
He was added to a UK sanctions list in 2022 and barred from entering the country. His assets were frozen in Britain and its overseas territories.
Plahotniuc was accused of involvement in pro-Russian political campaigns and efforts to derail Moldova’s pro-EU course.
The news of his arrest is likely to be viewed positively by President Maia Sandu’s camp and her Romanian and EU supporters ahead of September’s crucial parliamentary elections, in which the Kremlin is already involved through proxies in massive disinformation and voter manipulation campaigns.
