The first deputy chairman of the Democratic Party of Moldova and well-known businessman Vlad Plahotniuc 20 years ago founded a company in the Transnistrian region. The company had the right to act in over 40 business segments, IPN reports, quoting an article of the Association of Investigative Reporters Rise Moldova.
The article says that this company, called Laminar, was started in 1996 and is registered in Tiraspol. “The firm’s share capital is 1.5 million rubles (US$4.1 according to the exchange rate of 1996), while Plahotniuc’s holding is relatively small, of 33.3% of the share capital,” said the authors of the investigation, who make reference to the registration documents.
According to the journalists, two residents of Transnistria - Dmitri Goreanskii from Tiraspol and Gennady Zubarev from Bender – became the future oligarch’s business partners in Laminar, with equal holdings of 33.3%, with Zubarev being named the company’s director.
Under the firm’s statutes, which are presented in the investigation, Plahotniuc’s company obtained the right to work in over 40 business segments, such as sale of alcoholic beverages, advertising and editorial services, installation of TV cables, hotel business, guard and video surveillance services, opening of gas stations.
The authors of the investigation note that since 2010, Laminar has been under liquidation following a decision taken by local courts for the reason that the company didn’t present accounting reports to the Transnistrian fiscal bodies during the last six months.
According to Victor Stratila, deputy chairman of the National Integrity Commission, even if the company is under liquidation, which means that legally it still exists, the public servant was obliged to declare it by mentioning that he is the co-founder and that the company is being liquidated.
The editor of the Russian language office of Rise Moldova Vladimir Thoric has told IPN that Vlad Plahotniuc is not the only Moldovan businessman who possesses a company in Transnistria. The journalist said that he and his colleagues plan to produce a series of articles about the companies run by Moldovan policies and businessmen in the Transnistrian region and about the businesses owned by Transnistrian politicians on the right bank of the Nistru and in the neighboring states.
