Ex-Premier Vlad Filat, who in 2015 was sentenced to nine years in jail for influence peddling and passive corruption, said he does not want a political solution for being set free from jail. In an interview for ProTV Chisinau channel’s talk show “In Depth” conducted in Penitentiary No. 13 where he is held, Vlad Filat said three years ago the former leader of the Democratic Party Vlad Plahotniuc offered him pardoning “in exchange for nothing” as this wanted to show he is a kindhearted man, IPN reports.
The ex-leader of the Liberal Democratic Party stated that he has noticed fear that someone could leave prison and also wish for someone to stay in jail and these two things seem repulsive to him. “I think they should care not about me now, but about those many who committed illegalities and those who didn’t intervene to prevent these illegalities when holding responsible posts in the state,” said Vlad Filat.
He noted he will prove his innocence in the first case in which he was convicted. He considers it is unfair to convict a person when this doesn’t hold any state post and to do nothing in relation to persons who managed the robbed banks and signed in favor of providing loans, who administered institutions that should have acted promptly, not only informed. “I don’t want someone to follow in my footsteps, but things should be clarified till the end,” stated the former Prime Minister.
Vlad Filat also said that he does not recognize his first conviction as any sentence passed by encroaching on the right to defense in a fair trial is null and void. He admits only the accusations concerning the purchase of several cars for the guard service and several flights he made. However, he knows that Ilan Shor had no other way out and submitted the self-denouncing statement based on which he was convicted as this would have been jailed otherwise.
He noted that after three years of requests, he started to receive answers from state institutions and obtained documents that show he is not guilty of passive corruption of which he was convicted.
The second case in which the former Liberal-Democratic leader is prosecuted for laundering money in considerable amounts is pending at the Buiucani branch of the Chisinau City Court and was sent to court in the middle of this January. He faces another five to ten years in jail on this charge.
In both of the cases, Vlad Filat pleads not guilty and classifies these cases as political ones.
