Moldavian jungle: Dodon and Plahotniuc are at each other’s throats
Less than a year has passed since the new government of Moldova announced its intentions to fight the oligarchs who had “seized the state,” and this fight has finally become noticeable.
The Prosecutor General of Moldova, Alexander Stoianoglu, said that the main beneficiary of the so-called “theft of the century,” when more than a billion dollars were withdrawn from Moldovan banks in 2014, is the criminal oligarch Vlad Plahotniuc, who fled the country.
Actually, this is the same sensation as saying the name Voldemort out loud. Everyone already knew about the oligarch’s connection with the “theft of the century.” Back in 2017, Plahotniuc was arrested in absentia by the Tversky District Court of Moscow in a closely related case of the “Moldavian Laundromat”, when 37 billion rubles were withdrawn from Russia through Moldovan banks.
A sensation is the prosecutor’s statement of his intention to demand the extradition of Plahotniuc from the United States, where he is currently staying (they say that he is in the status of an FBI informant as the owner of significant compromising information on many influential Moldovans and Russians).
A year ago, against the backdrop of the powerful anti-oligarchic pathos of the new pro-European government of Maia Sandu, only the court of the small town of Cecany dared to issue a warrant for the 30-day preventive arrest of Plahotniuc, which everyone then conveniently forgot about.
This forgetfulness is explained by the fact that in Moldovan politics everyone is tied up both by personal connections and compromising evidence (however, one usually follows from the other). Plahotniuc was expelled, but his people continued to weave intrigues and build coalitions. For example, last November we successfully reached an agreement with President Dodon and dismissed the Sandu government.
This would have continued if the all-powerful oligarch had not decided to destroy the ruling coalition and deprive his enemy President Igor Dodon of a controlled government, which he was able to acquire only towards the end of his term.
In February, those who did not hide the fact that they were loyal to Plahotniuc left the coalition. In May, amid a scandal with a Russian loan, which was recognized as unconstitutional, five more defected (they were accused of mercenary motives).
In view of the above statement, the prosecutor can be considered not at all as an uncompromising fight against the oligarchs, but as an attempt to cover up the source of “inspiration” of the defectors.
Did not work out. On the day of the prosecutor's revelations, two more deputies left the ruling coalition. There are now 52 of the 100 members of the Moldovan parliament left there.
But this was not the main blow. A few hours before Stoianoglo’s press conference, MP Iurie Renita published on his Facebook a small fragment of the recording of a secret meeting between Igor Dodon and Vlad Plahotniuc, in which the oligarch tries to give the president a certain black plastic bag. Dodon did not take the package, and Plahotniuc handed it to a third person present at the meeting.
Renita's participation in the scandal is a very clumsy cover-up operation. He belongs to the pro-European faction “Dignity and Truth”, which actually fights the oligarchs. At the same time, everyone in Moldova knows that the source of the video is Plahotniuc himself, who loved to record everyone. But for some reason the oligarch was embarrassed to throw in compromising evidence through his deputies.
The topic of the black package was widely covered by pro-Western media and politicians specializing in hype. Thus, the mayor of Balti, Renato Usatii, publicly hung a similar package on the bars of the presidency. Previously, he supported an anti-presidential rally of combatants who fought with Transnistria, and pointedly ignored the government’s decision, allowing the rally to open in Balti. It is not yet clear whether Usatii is hypeing as part of his presidential campaign or by order.
In any case, his activity only adds to the wildness of the Moldavian jungle. In the faction of the whistleblower Renita, there have already been proposals to impeach Dodon. In turn, the pro-presidential socialists decided to clarify the issue of the constitutionality of early elections in order to intimidate their opponents, who are still losing sociology.
Both projects are difficult to implement. But the final collapse of the ruling coalition and the resignation of the government is a real thing. Judging by the leaks, the issue is less than a million dollars. For Plahotniuc this is not money.
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