The criminal case against controversial businessman Veaceslav Platon, who is accused of organizing and directing an illegal scheme to obtain shares in Moldova-Agroindbank, has been sent to court. According to anticorruption prosecutors, the assets acquired through the alleged scheme were worth 400 million lei.
Platon is accused of promoting people loyal to him to the bank’s governing bodies, which allegedly allowed him to take control of the financial institution.
He is also accused of illegally acquiring another person’s property through fraud, causing major losses to Moldova-Agroindbank shareholders, as well as money laundering on a particularly large scale.
“According to the evidence gathered by the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office, Veaceslav Platon allegedly organized a scheme under which transactions were registered without the consent of the legal owners of the shares or their successors, based on forged documents. As a result of these transactions, a shareholding representing 43.11% of the authorized capital of Moldova-Agroindbank was allegedly obtained, with a value exceeding 400 million lei,” the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office said.
According to prosecutors, the shares were subsequently transferred to non-resident companies in an alleged attempt to conceal their illicit origin. Platon is allegedly the beneficial owner of those companies.
The money used for the transactions allegedly originated from the Russian Laundromat, Anticorruption Prosecutor General Marcel Dumbrăvan said.
The prosecutor also said that Platon refused to familiarize himself with the indictment in the presence of his defense lawyers.
The allegations have not been proven in court. Platon is presumed innocent until a final court ruling.