Veaceslav Platon, accused of withdrawing over 48 billion rubles from Russia
Controversial businessman Veaceslav Platon is accused of withdrawing more than 48 billion rubles (480 million dollars) from Russia, according to a new investigation by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, RIA Novosti reported.
According to the investigation, between 2013 and 2014, Platon, a shareholder of "Moldindconbank" S.A., coordinated illegal foreign exchange operations, involving more than 20 credit organizations in Russia. The funds were transferred abroad under the pretext of foreign exchange operations, which were controlled by Platon and his accomplices, including Alexandr Corkin, Vladimir Plahotniuc and Renato Usatîi.
Currently, the criminal case has been sent for examination to the Preobrajenski District Court in Moscow, in Platon's absence, because the prosecutor's office of the Republic of Moldova refused to extradite him to Russia. Veaceslav Palton is now in Great Britain.
Earlier it was reported that Plahotniuc and Usatîi were put under international investigation, and an arrest warrant was issued against them in absentia.
We requested a comment from Veaceslav Platon regarding the new allegations, but have not received a reply. Earlier, Platon said that the money transferred through the "Russian Laundromat" scheme was a withdrawal of capital and not "money laundering".
Veaceslav Platon is a Moldovan businessman known for his involvement in several large-scale financial schemes and criminal cases. He was a deputy in the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova between 2009 and 2010 and held significant shares in several financial institutions, including Moldindconbank.
Platon became known for his role in the "Russian Laundromat" scheme, through which billions of dollars were illegally transferred from Russia through banks in the Republic of Moldova. In 2016, he was arrested in Ukraine and he was extradited to the Republic of Moldova, where he was sentenced to 18 years in prison for his involvement in fraud related to the disappearance of a billion dollars from the Moldovan banking system. This case, known as the "theft of a billion", severely affected the country's financial sector.
In 2020, the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Moldova, Alexandr Stoianoglo, said that Platon's trial was based on fake evidence, which led to his release. He was recently sentenced in absentia by a Moscow court to 20 years in prison for withdrawing more than 126 billion rubles from Russia.
