Anticorruption prosecutors finished the investigation into the case of money laundering in very large amounts against Vlad Filat and sent the case to court, IPN reports.
According to the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office, pursuing the goal of hiding the illegal origin and the transfer of large amounts of ill-gotten gains in 2013, the ex-Premier organized and committed the money laundering offense, using an intermediary in close affinity with him to make the transfers.
On July 1, 2013, he signed a contract for the provision of assistance to a political party in the campaign prior to the parliamentary elections of November 2014 with a consultancy company based in Washington, the U.S. For the contracted services, he paid over 12.8 million lei to the non-resident company, making periodically transfers from the accounts of companies managed through the intermediary, where money obtained illegally from Banca de Economii was kept.
Following the results of the request for a rogatory commission made to the U.S. authorities, which confirmed the consultancy services provided by the company based on Washington to the Moldova political party, it was established that the money whose origin they aimed to hide was received by the accused after committing the offenses of influence peddling and passive corruption for which the ex-Premier serves time in jail.
According to the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office, the former Prime Minister does not admit his guilt. Money laundering in considerable amounts carries five to ten years’ imprisonment.
In July 2016, Vlad Filat was sentenced to nine years in jail for influence peddling and passive corruption. He was deprived of parliamentary immunity and arrested after politician Ilan Shor informed the Prosecutor General’s Office that he offered Filat US$250 million for particular services when this served as Prime Minister.
