Selective justice is witnessed in the cases that refer to the banking fraud. Some of the persons involved in the “theft of the US$ 1 billon” were convicted and serve time in jail, while the cases of other investigated persons haven’t been yet remitted to court. The issue was developed in the program ”Black Box” on TV8 channel, IPN reports.
Ion Guzun, programs director at the Legal Resources Center, said the cases related to the banking fraud are of interest to the citizens of Moldova and the development partners that support the state institutions so that they are stronger. Businessman Veaceslav Platon was practically kidnapped in Ukraine and convicted definitively during a year, as ex-Premier Vlad Filat was, while the case of the former president of the Administration Board of Bănca de Economii Ilan Șor hasn’t yet reached the court. This points to selective justice and the courts of law play their role here.
Victor Munteanu, lawyer for ex-Premier Vlad Filat, said Vlad Filat was convicted of acts of corruption and influence peddling, not of the banking fraud and the association with other persons is not appropriate. “The name of Veaceslav Platon is not mentioned in Mister Filat’s sentence. I want to make this difference clear,” he stated, noting that two applications related to Vlad Filat’s case were submitted to the ECHR, concerning the pretrial stage and the violations committed during the trial, including the holding of hearings behind closed doors and removal from office before the Supreme Court of Justice passed a definitive judgment.
Valeriu Pleșca, lawyer for Veaceslav Platon, noted all the proofs presented by the defense in their cases were rejected. The defendant and his lawyers were excluded from the trials. “They played between them. It wasn’t a fair trial,” he stated, adding they filed four complaints related to the trial to the ECHR.
Vlad Filat got nine years in jail for abuse of power and passive corruption, while Veaceslav Platon was sentenced to 30 years in jail in two criminal cases for swindle and money laundering.