Fugitive Moldovan Oligarch Sues State Dept Over US Ban

The fugitive Moldovan tycoon Vladimir Plahotniuc, who is now in the US, has filed a lawsuit against the US State Department and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo after being banned from the US on January 13 “due to his involvement in significant corruption”.

The Moldovan media published the complaint filed against the State Department and Pompeo before the United States District Court in New York, where on Friday the lawsuit will be heard.

“This action arises out of an unlawful and unjustified Designation [as undesirable] entered against Vladimir Plahotniuc and his immediate family members by the Department of State,” the opening statement of the document says.

Plahotniuc claims in his 27-page explanation for the lawsuit that he is being punished for standing up to Russian influence in Moldova and fighting Russian propaganda.

In fact, his media empire rebroadcasted Russian TV channels in Moldova. But he lists various threats against him and his family allegedly ordered by Moscow with the help of Albanian hitmen.

The document also notes that Plahotniuc applied for political asylum in the US in September 2019 but was rejected on January 10, 2020, when his visa was revoked. On January 13, he was designated undesirable on US soil.

In Moldova, on Thursday, the Chisinau Court of Appeal rejected an appeal by the Anti-corruption Prosecutor’s Office to seize Plahotniuc’s assets in Switzerland, France and Romania, and upheld a previous decision to seize only his assets in Moldova.

Socialist Party deputy Bogdan Tirdea held a press briefing before the court, urging Moldovan justice to act against Plahotniuc and presenting documents regarding Plahotniuc’s lawsuit in the US.

Tirdea claimed that to avoid prosecution in Moldova, the mogul was “trying to overthrow the government” now led by Ion Chicu, “and establish another government”.

Pro-Russian political forces in Chisinau, and their allies in the Democratic Party, risk losing their slender parliamentary majority, having only 51 deputies out of 101. In the last months, many deputies quit the Democratic Party and joined the opposition Pro Moldova faction, led by the ex-speaker of parliament, and Plahotniuc’s godson, Andrian Candu.