Moldovan Oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc Extradited, Days Before Pivotal Elections

By Nadejda Coptu September 25, 2025

CHISINAU -- Moldovan oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc has been extradited to Chisinau to face long-running criminal charges, jolting the country just days before a tense general election already roiled by allegations of Russian interference.

Plahotniuc, who has been implicated with a decade-old bank fraud case known as the "theft of the century," arrived in the Moldovan capital September 25 after being extradited from Greece where he had been held since July.

Plahotniuc is the lead suspect in a long-running investigation into the disappearance of some $1 billion from banks in the small, impoverished former Soviet republic in 2014. Dubbed the "theft of the century," the sum was estimated to amount to around 12 percent of the country's total gross domestic product.

Plahotniuc has fought the charges for years. He was expected to make his first appearance at a Chisinau court on September 26.

The businessman's arrival in Moldova come as the country braces for parliamentary elections scheduled for September 28, a vote that will determine if the country moves closer to the European Union or if it falls further into Russia's political orbit.

President Maia Sandu and her pro-European Party of Action and Solidarity are trying to hold onto their majority in parliament, amid a strong push by a political bloc led by former President Igor Dodon, who has maintained close ties with Moscow.

He has referred to the current democratically elected government as a "criminal regime."

In a speech this week, Sandu warned that the country's independence and future with Europe was in danger as she accused the Kremlin of "pouring hundreds of millions of euros" into the country to spread disinformation.

Also this week, Moldovan police said they had arrested confiscated weapons and explosives around the country and arrested 74 people, accusing them of involvement in a plot to stoke disorder.

Some of those arrested reportedly had travelled to Serbia for training by Russian instructors, including with firearms.

Though the charges of bank theft hung over Plahotniuc for years, he served multiple times in parliament as a member of the Democratic Party.

In 2019, he left the county, shortly before receiving a criminal summons from Moldovan prosecutors.

He spent months living quietly in the United States, and applied for political asylum, according to a lawsuit he filed in US federal court. That asylum request was rejected.

In January 2020, his US visa was revoked after then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared that his "corrupt actions undermined the rule of law and severely compromised the independence of democratic institutions in Moldova."

He was living in Miami, Florida, at the time.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/moldova-oligarch- plahotniuc-election-fraud-russia/33540483.html

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Moldovan Oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc Extradited, Days Before Pivotal Elections