Plahotniuc responds to 'Puppeteer' allegations

Democrat vice-president Vlad Plahotniuc criticized Lib-Dem leader Vlad Filat for using gutter language and said that, for his part, he would never lower himself to such a level. His reaction came after Prime Minister Filat said Vlad Plahotniuc was the 'Puppeteer', the bad guy pulling strings in Moldovan politics and business. “If I were to lower myself to this level, I should probably use such epithets as 'the King of Smuggling', 'the Gangster of Transition', 'the Smuggler of the Century', 'Mister Cigarette', or something like that”, said Vlad Plahotniuc when asked by reporters to comment on Vlad Filat's allegations. Plahotniuc said that a Prime Minister should better concern himself with pressing problems of the country, like the harvest of corn and beet, instead of inventing names and thinking of puppets. “I think that this approach of regarding Moldova as a puppet theater denotes an unsatisfied childhood desire”, declared Plahotniuc. Further, Plahotniuc claimed that in 2009 Vlad Filat asked him to stay out of politics and promised him that, if he helped Filat become Moldova's number one politician, he would return him the favor in the form of governmental contracts. “But I refused”, said Plahotniuc. According to him, Vlad Filat was also behind Sergiu Mocanu's campaign, which targeted the Democratic Party and Plahotniuc personally.