Ex-Premier Vlad Filat hasn’t been tried in the case of the theft of the US$ 1 billion. He was tried for acts of corruption and influence peddling, Filat’s new lawyer Victor Munteanu was quoted by IPN as saying in the talk show “Politics of Natalia Morari” on TV8 channel.
“He was tried neither for theft, nor for misappropriation of property. The loans raised from the three banks involved in the theft cannot be found in the case in which the former Premier was convicted,” stated Victor Munteanu. According to him, only 40 million lei of the 250 million lei included in the case remained ultimately. A lot of figures were decreased during the trial. Furthermore, all the requests to perform financial examinations in Filat’s case were rejected.
The lawyers for Vlad Filat sent two applications to the European Court of Human Rights. The first refers to the illegal detention and to the placing under arrest before the passing of sentence. The second refers to the holding of the hearings behind closed doors and to the violation of the Parliament’s regulations on the annulment of immunity. “Vlad Filat intends to seek damages,” stated the lawyer.
Political commentator Anatol Țăranu said Vlad Filat’s arrest showed the oligarchic regime of the Republic of Moldova suffered particular changes – the political power was concentrated in one place. The created situation can be solved by two ways - reformation of society from “up” and a “down” revolution - but these both have insufficient chances of being implemented successfully in Moldova. “The oligarchic regimes are typical for all the ex-Soviet states, less for the Baltic countries, where the political power is used to apply the resources of society for the benefit of a small group of people,” stated Anatol Țăranu.
Political commentator Vitalii Andrievski said the situation when the power is concentrated in someone’s hands is absolutely normal. The confrontation between Vlad Filat and Vlad Plahotniuc caused a lot of problems to Moldova. “None of them wanted to admit to being an inferior partner. This struggle brought nothing good to Moldova,” he noted.
On October 15, it was three years of the arrest of Vlad Filat. The ex-Premier was sentenced to nine years in jail for abuse of power and passive corruption based on self-denouncing statements made by Ilan Shor, who said he offered money and presented to the value of US$ 250 million to Vlad Filat when this served as Premier in exchange for governmental services. Vlad Filat pleaded not guilty.
