By Antonia Langford

Copyright kyivpost

A former high-ranking Moldovan politician and fugitive oligarch has been extradited from Greece to stand trial in connection with Moldova’s largest-ever financial scandal.

Vladimir Plahotniuc, 59, is alleged to have orchestrated a 2014 banking fraud that saw $1 billion vanish from Moldovan banks.

The massive embezzlement, dubbed the “theft of the century”, amounted to roughly 12% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) at the time.

Plahotniuc, once regarded as the most influential figure in the Democratic Party of Moldova, has also faced allegations of serving Russian interests.

According to local authorities, Plahotniuc was picked up from Athens airport after boarding a plane to Dubai.

He was flown to Chișinău on Thursday morning before being immediately transferred to a detention facility in the Moldovan capital.

The tycoon, who is the subject of multiple longstanding criminal investigations in his home country, has consistently rejected allegations against him and pledged to prove his innocence.

Clips from a local outlet reporting live from the airport showed the business magnate being ushered out of the plane and into a private vehicle by people in dark uniforms.

Plahotniuc’s extradition comes days before Sunday’s crunch parliamentary elections, which are being held amid suspicions of a creeping Russian disinformation and influence campaign which threatens to unseat the pro-European ruling Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) and sabotage Moldova’s EU accession.

President Maia Sandu warned earlier this month that the Kremlin wants to “capture Moldova through the ballot box” as she alleged that Russia had launched a large-scale campaign to discredit Moldova’s pro-western government.

On Monday, Moldovan authorities detained over 70 people in 250 nationwide raids targeting suspected Kremlin-backed attempts to destabilize the country and its democracy.

Volodymyr Zelensky urged leaders at the UN on Wednesday to help Moldova overcome the alleged Russian plot, saying “Europe cannot afford to lose Moldova too.”

Plahotniuc left Moldova in 2019 after his Democratic Party was overthrown, amid mounting investigations against him, including his alleged role in the massive banking fraud.

Until 2020, he resided in the United States, where he sought asylym. However, his visa was later revoked as then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused him of corruption that “severely compromised the independence of democratic institutions in Moldova.”

Plahotniuc has been sanctioned by the European Union, the United States and the United Kingdom. Moldovan prosecutors say he must answer charges of fraud, money laundering and organized crime, allegations he dismisses as a “witchhunt.”

The tycoon is also wanted in Russia, where he has been charged in absentia with leading a criminal organization, drug trafficking and illegal money laundering.

Sandu wrote on Facebook on Thursday: “If you don’t give up when the going gets tough and keep fighting – all of society keeps fighting – even criminals who seemed invincible end up facing justice.”