Veaceslav Platon addressed a letter to the EU Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Peter Stano and the Head of the EU Delegation to Moldova Peter Michalko. “I share your concern about the lack of progress in investigating the resonant case named generically Russian Laundromat,” Platon says in his letter.
“Indeed, the law enforcement agencies in Moldova are unable to obtain information from the Russian Federation about the origin of the transited financial resources. Consequently, this investigation stagnates. But Moldova was only a ring in this chain. Latvia, a member state of the European Union, was the second ring. Moreover, the final beneficiaries of the ill-gotten gains, as it was reported by the press, are enterprises and organizations based in Germany, France, Italy, the UK. It is extremely important to obtain information about the economic significance of the operations, their feasibility and end goal namely from the beneficiaries of the gains,” runs the letter.
According to Veaceslav Platon, this can be obtained only within criminal proceedings in the countries he enumerated. “It is bewildering why these countries haven’t taken action in this case even after six years as namely they became the main beneficiaries of the allegedly illegal gains,” stated Platon.
He noted he is ready to provide the necessary support to the investigation bodies in Germany, France, Italy, the UK and Latvia and agrees to be questioned as the accused, as a witness or victim. “I insistently ask you to become involved in the process and to notify the prosecutor’s offices of the aforementioned states of the inadmissibility of an unserious attitude to such crimes as the Laundromat. The lack of reaction on the part of the law enforcement agencies of the EU will prove the lack of prospects and the uselessness of the investigation, will serve as a reason for my colleagues in Moldova to become discouraged and to feel the inefficiency of their efforts against the indifference of their European mates,” stated Platon.
Veaceslav Platon spent four years behind bars. He was arrested in July 2016 and in April 2017, the Chisinau City Court sentenced him to 18 years in jail for swindle and laundering of money in very large amounts that caused damage of over 800 million lei to Banca de Economii (Savings Bank). In December 2017, Platon got 12 years behind bars for trying to withdraw sums of money from several insurance firms, in which he was a majority shareholder, while he was under arrest in 2016. He allegedly asked for the support of members of the special purpose detachment “Pantera” in this regard. On January 30, this year, the Chisinau City Appeals Court quashed the December 2017 decision by which Platon was given 12 years in jail, demanding that the case be retried. On May 18, Prosecutor General Alexandr Stoianoglo said the case started against Veaceslav Platon was fully fabricated and a procedure to review the sentence will be initiated. He also said that Vladimir Plahotniuc is one of the main beneficiaries of the bank fraud. On June 15, the court suspended the execution of the sentence passed by the Chisinau City Court on April 20, 2017, by which Veaceslav Platon was given 18 years.
