Moldova refused to return its worst enemy Poroshenko to Ukraine
The General Prosecutor's Office of Moldova rejected requests from Ukraine and Russia for the extradition of businessman Vyacheslav Platon, sentenced to 25 years in prison for fraud and money laundering on a large scale.
This is stated in an official statement from the prosecutor's office, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“Platon has Moldovan citizenship, he is serving a criminal sentence, and also appears in other cases that are in process. Without it, the reasonable time frame for the investigation may be violated and, as a result, the rights and interests of the injured parties may be infringed,” the prosecutor’s office explained.
It is noteworthy that on the same day when the statement of the prosecutor's office was announced, the court of the Checani sector (Chisinau district) reduced Platon's prison term by 565 days due to poor conditions of detention.
In December 2019, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Ruslan Ryaboshapka sent an official letter to his Moldovan counterpart Alexander Stoianoglo, in which he asked for the return of businessman Vyacheslav Platon, who was extradited from Kyiv in 2016.
As Platon himself explained, his extradition took place as a result of an agreement between the oligarch, who was then called the “master of Moldova,” Vlad Plahotniuc and the then President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko. The fee for the service amounted to 3 million euros. For this, Poroshenko provided a private plane for extradition.
For the new authorities of Ukraine, the Moldovan businessman is of interest because he initiated the initiation of a criminal case against Poroshenko, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Yuriy Lutsenko and the former head of the SBU Vasily Gritsak, submitting a corresponding application to the State Bureau of Investigation of Ukraine.
The articles under which Platon accuses Poroshenko, Lutsenko and Gritsak (“Exceeding power or official authority” and “Violation of the right to defense”) provide for court sentences of up to 10 years.
As for Russia, Plato will also go to prison there: the investigative department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation accused him and Vlad Plahotniuc of withdrawing 37 billion rubles from Russia. The capital's Tver Court also arrested the defendants in absentia.
Moldova has refused to return Poroshenko, Ukraine's worst enemy, to Ukraine.