The criminal case over money laundering in considerable amounts against former Prime Minister Vlad Filat, which was sent to court on January 16, is eminently political and is evidently electoral in character, designed to create a media background in the election campaign prior to the parliamentary elections of February 2019, Filat’s lawyer Victor Munteanu noted in a press release.
“The purely political and electoral character of the case results from the fact that the investigation was started in 2015 and most of the procedural acts to which reference is made in the press release of the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office were completed in 2016, but the sending of the case to court was decided in the current political context,” stated Victor Munteanu.
As to the accusations made against Vlad Filat, the lawyer said the facts, sums of money and companies with which Vlad Filat has no connection were already examined as part of the first criminal case. “It is an attempt to mislead the public by the assertions that Vlad Filat signed the consultancy contract of July 1, 2013 or that he paid for the provided services through companies managed by intermediaries,” said Victor Munteanu.
Anticorruption prosecutors finished the investigation into the case of money laundering in very large amounts against Vlad Filat and sent the case to court on January 16. According to the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office, the former Prime Minister does not admit his guilt. Money laundering in considerable amounts carries a penalty of 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, who was registered as an electoral contender in the parliamentary elections of February 24, 20019, informed the Prosecutor General’s Office that he offered Filat US$250 million for particular services when this served as Prime Minister. Vlad Filat got a definitive sentence rather quickly and the trial was held behind closed doors. The case of Ilan Shor is examined by the Cahul Appeals Court and the hearings in this case were repeatedly postponed.
