The murder of German Gorbuntsov was ordered by the leader of “Our Party” Renato Usatyi and the executioner Vitalie Proca was, for money, to later name another person who ordered the murder – Vlad Plahotniuc. The scheme of the murder attempt of businessman German Gorbuntsov was described in a news conference organized by the Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime and Special Cases, IPN reports.
The prosecutors questioned four persons involved in the transmission of the sum of €200,000 to the relatives of Vitalie Proca. Those questioned said that €200,000 is the advance of the total of €600,000 for which Vitalie Proca was to implement a scenario designed by Renato Usatyi. “During the investigation, the accused said that for €600,000 Proca agreed to and was ready to state in an interview or an official hearing that the murder of German Gorbuntsov was ordered by Vladimir Plahotniuc,” said the prosecutor in charge of the case Lilian Bacalim.
According to deputy chief prosecutor of the Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime and Special Cases Vitalie Busuioc, Ion Druta, one of the organizers, admitted his guilt. It was established that in 2011-2012, Renato Usatyi organized a criminal group that consisted of Moldovans and citizens of other states for the purpose of dispossessing Gorbuntsov of his property and then to eliminate him.
In the autumn of 2011, Ion Druta was visited by Oleg Timoshenko, who is accused of serious crimes in Moldova, Ukraine and Russia, and his brother-in-law Gennady Vechiu. The two, on the instruction of Renato Usatyi, were to identify where German Gorbuntsov was. Renato Usatyi would have promised the killers 10% of the US$300 million that he allegedly obtained from Gorbuntsov. After defrauding German Gorbuntsov of a holding of 81.73% of the share capital of BC “Universalbank” SA, representatives of the company “Mep Grup Ltd” Seychelles (offshore area), Gorbuntsov’s bodyguard was killed on the instruction of Renato Usatyi. Gorbuntsov left Moldova and settled in London.
To commit the murder in the UK, Druta offered Proca US$200,000, paying him US$50,000 in advance. Proca failed to kill Gorbuntsov and returned to Moldova. On February 7, 2013, Proca was arrested in Russia. In October 2015, Druta was sentenced to 20 years in jail in Moldova. In the same period, Oleg Timoshenko went missing. In March 2016, Gennady Vechiu also went missing.
According to the prosecutors, they requested the Russian authorities to extradite Usatyi. This September the Russian authorities refused to do it for the reason that Usatyi has also Russian nationality besides Moldovan. He was yet put on the wanted list. The Russian authorities prevent the questioning of Vitalie Proca, who is held in a penitentiary in Romania.
