The mafia clans of Moldova are now in the most serious confrontation and the war between them reaches threatening proportions, considers the leader of the People’s Movement “Antimafie” Sergiu Mocanu. In a news conference at IPN, he said that the former employee of the National Anticorruption Center Mihail Gofman, by his statements made in the U.S., is trying to exert pressure on Vlad Plahotniuc and to influence the investigation into the case of Banca de Economii or to stop it for the reason that he is also involved in this case.
Sergiu Mocanu noted that Mihail Gofman is not a simple ex-employee of the National Anticorruption Center. He is a person mentioned in a number of confessions of the mayor of Orhei Ilan Shor. He is a multimillionaire and, when he held the post at the Anticorruption Center, he could act and sell information for the benefit of his partners and clients. “In that period, Filat, Plahotniuc, Shor and many others were those whom he served and thus collected large sums of money. Now Gofman is one of the well-off persons of this country,” he stated.
The leader of “Animafie” noted that Mihail Gofman possesses relevant information, but does not want to share it with the public opinion. He uses it only in order to blackmail Vlad Plahotniuc and the law enforcement agencies. Gofman pursues the goal of changing the direction of the investigation into the case of Banca de Economii because he is also involved in this case. Now this investigation can no longer be controlled because some of the prosecutors stopped to obey the mafia.
According to Sergiu Mocanu, by his statements Mihail Gofman made it clear that if Vlad Plahotniuc does not change the course of the investigation, he will not return to Moldova. But if the course is changed, he will return and is even ready to help him.
The leader of “Antimafie” also said that Vlad Plahotniuc can no longer influence the inquiry and is already unhappy about the criminal case started against ex-Premier Vlad Filat. Plahotniuc does not know how to act. Gofman could seek political asylum in the U.S. and the prosecutors’ hesitation in arresting him could cost them, while the investigation into the theft of the billion could take another shift.
At the end of June, the ex-deputy head of the National Anticorruption Center’s Money Laundering Combating Division Mihail Gofman in a TV program said the frauds committed in the Moldovan banking system were planned outside the country, including in Russia, in a move to take over Moldova’s foreign exchange reserves and Moldovan politicians who are now in power were involved in this scheme. Later, Gofman was summoned to the Center, but he didn’t present himself. On July 11, he gave a news conference in Washington, where he said that the investigation of the theft of the billion from the Moldovan banking system must be assisted by international experts because there are no sufficient forces in Moldova.
