Fugitive Moldovan oligarch implicated in $1 billion bank fraud detained in Greece

CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) — A fugitive Moldovan oligarch implicated in a $1 billion bank fraud and other illicit schemes was detained Tuesday in Greece, Moldova’s national police said.

Vladimir Plahotniuc fled Moldova in 2019 as he faced a series of corruption charges including allegations of complicity in a scheme that led to $1 billion disappearing from a Moldovan bank in 2014, which at the time was equivalent to about an eighth of Moldova’s annual GDP.

Plahotniuc has denied any wrongdoing.

Moldovan police said in a statement they were informed by Interpol’s office in Athens that two Moldovan citizens had been detained, including Plahotniuc, who was placed on Interpol’s international wanted list in February. Authorities did not name the other detainee.

The Greek police unit tackling organized crime said Interpol was seeking Plahotniuc on suspicion of participating in a criminal organization, fraud and money laundering.

Moldova’s Ministry of Justice and Prosecutor’s Office are in the process of exchanging information to begin seeking extradition of Plahotniuc and the other detainee, a government official told The Associated Press.

Plahotniuc, one of Moldova’s wealthiest men, fled to the U.S. from Moldova in June 2019 after failing to form a government with his Democratic Party.

The U.S. declared him persona non grata in 2020 and his whereabouts were unknown for years.

The powerful businessman and politician was added to a U.S. State Department sanctions list in 2022 for alleged corruption. The charges included controlling the country’s law enforcement to target political and business rivals and meddling in Moldova’s elections.

He was added to a U.K. sanctions list in 2022 and barred from entering the country. His assets were frozen in the U.K. and its overseas territories.