Vladimir Plahotniuc officially accused of fraud, money laundering, leading criminal organization

Extradited to Chisinau, the leader of the Moldovan Democratic Party (PDM), Vladimir Plahotniuc, was handed over to the country's law enforcement bodies and taken to Penitentiary No. 13, where prosecutors informed him of the charges in the criminal files he is involved in.

According to a statement issued by the Prosecutor General's Office, prosecutors from the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (PA) apprised the former PDM leader of the charges in four criminal files in the investigative phase. At the same time, for the case pending in court, Plahotniuc received the indictment, following the legal procedure.

The former political leader was internationally wanted, accused of creating and leading a criminal organization, fraud on a particularly large scale and money laundering in particularly large amounts.

The former PDM leader left Moldova in June 2019. He was detained on by authorities of the Greece at the Athens International Airport while attempting to leave the country on July 22, 2025. The Prosecutor General's Office was officially informed of this by BNC Interpol Chisinau.

Subsequently, on July 23, an arrest warrant was issued in the name of Vladimir Plahotniuc, for the purpose of extradition, by a prosecutor of the Court of Appeal from Athens – the competent court in this procedure. On July 24, the Prosecutor General’s Office sent the official extradition request to the Ministry of Justice of Greece, both directly and through diplomatic channels. The request is based on charges of fraud and money laundering with aggravating circumstances, as well as the creation and leadership of a criminal organization.

Along with Vladimir Plahotniuc, a former MP, Constantin Tutu, was also detained. A set of documents belonging to them was seized following body searches conducted at the airport and at the residence in Greece. The documents presented different identities and some of them belonged to the same state.