KIEV COURT ANNULS PROSECUTOR GENERAL’S ORDER ON PLATON’S EXTRADITION TO MOLDOVA

The Kiev Court has annulled the Order issued by Ukraine’s Prosecutor General to extradite Moldovan business tycoon Veaceslav Platon to Chisinau, his lawyer Ion Cretu told the press.

“So, now the Ukrainian authorities may demand Platon’s return to Ukraine. As a matter of fact, the annulment also puts an end to all litigations started against Platon”, said Cretu.

However, the Moldovan Prosecutor General's Office has not received any official documents on cancelling the Order on Veaceslav Platon’s extradition. Besides, according to the Moldovan legislation, if a Moldova citizen’s guilt is proved in the court and if he or she is serving a sentence here, such prisoner may not be returned to a foreign country, no matter how his extradition from that country was carried out.

Infotag's dossier: Veaceslav Platon was arrested on July 25, 2016 in Kiev (Ukraine), and already on August 29 he was extradited over to the Moldovan authorities who had declared him as wanted internationally. He was delivered to Chisinau on board a private airplane, which, according to the lawyers, belonged to Platon’s former business partner Vlad Plahotniuc, Moldova’s master and ruler until mid-June 2019.

Platon was charged of embezzling 800 million lei from Banca de Economii [savings bank] that went bankrupt in October 2015, and he was jailed for 18 years. In December 2017, Veaceslav Platon received extra 12 years for involvement in the embezzlement of three insurance companies’ assets totaling 205 million lei. Later on, an episode was added to that case – Platon’s criminal attempt to give a bribe to his prison guards.

Also, Platon was reportedly involved in the laundering (through 3 Moldovan banks) of US$22 billion from Russia within the framework of the scandalous “Laundromat operation”. Veaceslav Platon is said to own (albeit indirectly) thick parcels of shares in leading Moldovan banks and insurance companies.