​"ANTICORUPTIE" SUMMONS PLAHOTNIUC FOR INTERROGATION BY MEANS OF SOCIAL NETWORKS

The former leader of the Democratic Party, Vlad Plahotniuc, is suspected of money laundering in particularly large amounts, the Moldovan Anti-Corruption Prosecution Service aka "Anticoruptie" reported on Tuesday.

According to its press release, Prosecutor Alexandru Cernei has summoned Vlad Plahotniuc for giving evidence in connection with the criminal case initiated by Anticoruptie on September 23, 2019. Plahotniuc has been offered to show up at the Prosecution Office at 10 am on October 9 together with his lawyer.

“In case of a failure to come without a pardonable excuse, the suspect may be subjected to a fine or a coerced appearance”, reads the subpoena that was published in the social networks by the Anticoruptie press service.

The service wrote that it had to resort to such publishing of the subpoena and a public notification “because there is no other way to notify citizen Vlad Plahotniuc about his summoning to the Prosecution Service”. The notification did not explain what criminal case was meant or what sum. Earlier, the mass media wrote that Plahotniuc was the main beneficiary of the one-billion-dollar bank fraud.

Lawyer Oleg Efrim has stated that the lawyers’ bureau Efrim & Rosca, which is known to represent Plahotniuc’s interests in Moldova, “has received a subpoena, and we shall show up at the Prosecution Office on time”.

Vlad Plahotniuc, reputed to be Moldova’s almighty ruler and master until last summer, rushed away from the country on June 14, within an hour or so from the Democratic Party’s announcement that it was becoming an opposition force. A few days later, he stepped down as DP chairman, and at the end of July Plahotniuc resigned from the Parliament. The last time he wrote in the social networks was on the occasion of the Moldova Independence Day of August 27.