Moldovan business magnate Vladimir Plahotniuc, who is on the run from justice on charges of a $1 billion bank fraud, said on Friday from Greece that he wants to return to his homeland to clear his name, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
“I want to return to the country to prove my innocence to law enforcement authorities, or at least to what is left of them after the so-called reforms“, Plahotniuc wrote on a social network after being detained in Greece on an arrest warrant in connection with the “theft of the century“ – the disappearance of $1 billion from Moldova's banking system in 2014. At the time, this amount was equivalent to 12 percent of the country's gross domestic product, Reuters recalls.
Plahotniuc claims that the charges against him are based on "slander and political hatred".
He is a former lawmaker and is considered one of the richest Moldovans.
Last week, Plahotniuc agreed to be extradited to Moldova and promised to cooperate with international judicial authorities. The Moldovan government, which wants to join the EU by 2030, has long sought to have the oligarch returned to the country.
Plahotniuc believes that Moldovan authorities will try to delay his extradition until after the September 28 parliamentary elections, in which President Maia Sandu's pro-European Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) could lose its majority in parliament.
According to Plahotniuc, his return to Moldova could "bring the truth out".
Adriana Vlas, a spokeswoman for the Party of Action and Justice, rejected Plahotniuc's comments and said the country wanted the judicial system to act.
59-year-old Plahotniuc fled Moldova in 2019. He was arrested at Athens airport last month on his way to Dubai. An Interpol arrest warrant has been issued for him on charges of involvement in a criminal organization, money laundering and fraud.
Plahotniuc was the leader of the Democratic Party of Moldova from 2016 to 2019, which was then part of the ruling coalition. He also held the post of deputy speaker of parliament.
In June 2019, Plahotniuc fled Moldova to the United States, but in 2020 he was declared "persona non grata" there and his whereabouts were unknown for years.
The influential businessman and politician was added to the US State Department sanctions list in 2022. for alleged corruption, AP recalls.
The Polish intelligence service has detained a foreign citizen on suspicion of espionage, DPA reported, citing a message in Ex by the service's coordinator.
The person is an officer in the military intelligence of a Central Asian state from the former Soviet space, wrote in Ex Tomasz Szymoniak.
On Friday, the detainee was placed in pre-trial detention for a period of three months.
The man was detained on Wednesday in Bydgoszcz in northwestern Poland, the Prosecutor General's Office announced. Investigators accuse him of working for foreign intelligence and endangering the security of Poland and other NATO countries through his espionage activities.
Poland is one of the most active political and military supporters of Ukraine, which was attacked by Russia. The government in Warsaw accuses the intelligence services of Russia and its ally Belarus of sending agents to Poland and recruiting saboteurs.
“Anyone who threatens the security of the Polish state will be caught sooner or later“, wrote Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Ex. “Better sooner than later”, he specified.