Former leader of the Democratic Party of Moldova, Vladimir Plahotniuc, faces charges in a new criminal case for the production, possession, and use of forged identity documents. The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office of Moldova opened the case on February 12, 2026, Ziarul de Garda reports.
Prosecutor Alexandru Cernei said authorities initiated the case based on documents that Greek investigators seized from the house Plahotniuc was renting in Athens.
“Following a forensic handwriting examination, experts established that all the documents seized from Plahotniuc during the extradition process do not match authentic documents in terms of printing elements,” the prosecutor stated.
Plahotniuc’s defense rejects the accusations and argues that the case lacks legal grounds.
“It is a procedural trick,” his lawyer, Lucian Rogac, said.
Authorities in Greece and Romania also opened criminal cases against Plahotniuc based on the same documents, according to the cited source.
Greek authorities detained Vladimir Plahotniuc in Athens on July 22 and later transferred him to the Republic of Moldova on September 25. In Greece, he personally requested extradition to Moldova, which facilitated the examination of requests submitted by Moldovan prosecutors and the Ministry of Justice to the Greek authorities.
After extradition, authorities placed Plahotniuc in pre-trial detention at Penitentiary No. 13. Prosecutors informed him of charges in three ongoing criminal cases and handed him the indictment in a case already sent to court.
According to the Prosecutor General’s Office of Moldova, Plahotniuc faces accusations of creating and leading a criminal organization, committing fraud on an especially large scale, and laundering money on an especially large scale.