Representatives of the public association “Right to Justice” said the ties between Plahotniuc’s mafia and contrabandists become more evident. The association is carrying out an investigation to show how persons close to former politician Vlad Plahotniuc traffic in drugs and smuggle cigarettes and alcohol.
In a news conference hosted by IPN, the association’s head Pavel Grigorchuk said the investigation covers Andrei Goncherenko, a corrupt man from Russia who also holds the nationality of other states. He allegedly bought businesses from the oligarchs who fled Moldova in 2019. But this was only a scheme to register the businesses in his name so as to keep them for the real owners.
The activist noted they possess confirmed information from a number of sources showing that Andrei Goncherenko helped Vlad Plahotniuc to hide his assets from the law enforcement agencies. However, owing to the sanctions imposed due to the war in Ukraine, things changed and Andrei Goncherenko and other persons close to the ex-politician started to trade in drugs and to smuggle.
Pavel Grigorchuk said that regrettably, in many European states smuggling in cigarettes flourishes, with this having its roots in Eastern Europe, including the Republic of Moldova. This phenomenon, according to him, has a significant impact on the economy of the European states. Some of the states are seriously affected by the volume of contraband: each fourth packet of cigarettes on sale was smuggled or was made clandestinely.
According to him, Moldovan contrabandists who were convicted in European states remain at large in Moldova “This illegal business is controlled by international criminal groups that unfortunately include compatriots of ours. The protagonist of our investigation is citizen Mihail Filip Raileanu, who was born on September 19, 1981. He is also a citizen of Romania where he is wanted, being featured in other criminal cases. He is one of the barons, kings of Moldovan smuggling and is also one of the largest suppliers of cigarettes. But he smuggles not only cigarettes. We possess information that this grouping is also involved in drug trafficking. The man was sentenced in Belgium to seven years in jail, but this fact does not prevent him from smuggling considerable contraband in partnership with the international criminal underworld,” said Pavel Grigorchuk.
The association notified the authorities and the law enforcement agencies of illegal aspects of Raileanu’s activities. The representatives of the public association “Right to Justice” demand that the sentence in Belgium should be put into practice. As the Republic of Moldova does not extradite its own citizens, Mihail Filip Raileanu should be handcuffed here and made to serve his punishment.
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