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The international community, including the EU, has been urged to withhold future funding for Moldova until a full investigation is   held to bring to justice those behind a crime dubbed the “robbery of the century”.

Anger has been building since it was revealed last year that close to 15 percent of Moldova’s gross domestic product of approximately $1 billion disappeared in a massive corruption scandal involving three of the country’s largest banks.

The systematic looting of Moldova’s leading banks caused uproar across the political spectrum. So far, however, the only political figure jailed in connection with the theft is the former prime minister, Vlad Filat.

He is a bitter rival of Vlad Plahotniuc, Moldova’s most-feared politician who, according to editor-in-chief of the popular Moldovan magazine Panorama Dmitry Chubashenko, is widely seen as being the main beneficiary of the theft.

Speaking during a whistle-stop visit to Brussels, Chubashenko said the time had come for the EU, U.S and other international bodies to increase pressure on Moldova to hold a “full and thorough” investigation into Plahotnuic’s personal involvement into the banking scandal.

The failure to bring those responsible to justice is reminiscent of another scandal, known as “the Royal Hunt”, which involved high-ranking Moldovan officials and ended in the death of a young businessman. Only an international outcry, especially from top EU officials, forced Chisinau to reveal the truth about the circumstances.

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The latest scandal appears much the same but, instead of conducting a thorough investigation, the Moldovan authorities and Plahotniuc himself are accused of  erasing all traces of the crime, says Chubashenko.

He says a series of mysterious deaths subsequently occurred involving people who may have been able to reveal “secrets” about the robbery.

The included Moldovan MP Ion Butmalay who committed suicide by shooting himself in the chest (twice) and Mihay Bolokan, director of department at the National Bank of Moldova, who died from gas poisoning at his home.

Another case was the driver of an armoured car with the Banka de Economii who disappeared in mysterious circumstances. The car was later found burnt out, along with a huge number of bank files containing  vital information about the robbery.

Elsewhere, Sergey Sagaidak, an officer at the Banka Sociala, is in hiding abroad after a failed assassination attempt.

Meanwhile, journalists who have written about the robbery have faced intimidation, including Natalia Morar, a popular Moldovan media figure, who received “warnings” from unknown persons and “trouble” if she continued to report the case.

One example of the pressure that could be brought to bear, Chubashenko suggests, would be for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to withhold the disbursement of its latest loan tranche to Moldova.

But that the EU, or United States, would have dealings with such an unpopular and distrusted figure as Plahotniuc has dismayed many Moldovans,says Chubashenko.

“Nobody considers Plahotniuc pro-European. He is pro-Plahotniuc and pro-corruption,” he declared.

Chubashenko told that Plahotniuc has for many years drawn a tight veil over the sources of his wealth and power.

But what is known is that Plahotniuc, who will be 50 in December, owns Moldova’s two largest TV broadcasters, Prime and TV2 Plus and, says Chubashenko, his influence is felt at all levels of Moldovan life, including the judiciary, civil service and business community.

Plahotniuc, Moldova’s only oligarch, entered politics in November 2010 becoming an MP for the Democratic Party. He left parliament last year but is believed to harbour ambitions of becoming the country’s next prime minister after the 2018 parliamentary elections.

In January, Plahotnuic was proposed by his party as PM but  Moldova's president Nicolae Timofti noted he "failed to meet the criteria" for the post.

Two years ago, the secretary general of the Council of Europe, Thorbjorn Jagland, described Moldova, an impoverished nation of 3m people, as a “captured state” and Chubashenko says, “If it captured it has been captured by one person: Plahotniuc.”

Plahotniuc has been accused over the years of multiple crimes, including human trafficking, corruption on a grand scale and the so-called “robbery of the century” but has never been formally charged.

Chubashenko says, “He doesn’t just control the country, he owns it. But he is also the most-hated man in the country with latest opinion polls showing over 90 per cent public disapproval of what he is doing to Moldova.”

He says the tycoon has a reputation so toxic that even his political friends usually try to keep their distance in public.

Chubashenko believes that the “robbery of the century” case could be accelerated with a possible investigation in the U.S into Plahotnuic’s involvement in the Moldovan banking scandal, with a key figure here being Mikhail Gofman, a former senior officer with Moldova’s National Anti-Corruption Centre.

No less than $1 billion of that stolen from Moldovan banks was money provided by the IMF and consequently by the USA.

L.Todd Wood from Washington Times writes that “the shocking truth is that much of this money was injected into Moldova from the IMF and other Western financial institutions; in short, the money was stolen from Western taxpayers”.

Gofman is currently in the U.S where, during a press session for the Heritage Foundation, he divulged evidence related to the “robbery of the century” and Plahotniuc's alleged involvement.

He was summoned to a provisional hearing on 18 July in Chisinau, the Moldovan capital, organized by the public prosecutor’s office. Gofman said he would attend despite putting himself  a risk from Plahotnuic’s henchmen.

As well as evidence provided against him by Gofman, Plahotnuic could come under pressure on another flank.

Ilan Shor, the Moldovan tycoon and one of the men at the centre of the bank scandal allegations. Moldovan financial structures controlled by Shor were cited in the investigation into the case by the Kroll Audit Co.. Shor has been arrested and awaits a court decision in Moldova on his fate.

Chubashenko says that Shor could also give “very damning” evidence against Plahotnuic.

Plahotnuic’s own political ambitions could also be thwarted, says Chubashenko, by economist Maia Sandu, who heads the Party of Action and Solidarity. She is a  former education minister in Moldova and senior official with the World Bank who is seen as a credible alternative candidate to become Moldova’s president in November.

Chubashenko also referred to recent statements by Sandu who has sent an open letter to the IMF urging it to suspend further transfers to Moldova until “a strict mechanism is established to control proper use of the IMF`s funds”. Sandu is confident that without such tough measures “the Fund`s money will be stolen as it happened previously”.

Chubashenko says the international community has to intensify pressure on Chisinau, including an international inquiry into the “crime of the century” and Plahotnuic himself, a man who, despite his power, holds no official post in government.

Plahotnuic continues to present himself, says Chubashenko, as a “friend of the West”.

Former  European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso recently took part in a forum organised by Plahotnuic and Plahotnuic was pictured standing shoulder-to-shoulder in Washington recently with United States assistant secretary of state, Victoria J. Nuland.

In a newly published article on the issue, Chubashenko questions the wisdom of continuing to give tacit support to a country, propped up by an oligarch, on the basis of it being an “anchor of stability.”

He says. “Plahotnuic has created a vicious pyramid and what you might call a soft dictatorship. He's made himself many enemies, both inside Molodova and beyond its borders. He sucks the system and has absolutely no regard for his country, only for himself. He sees the country as his personal asset and is accountable to no-one.”

He adds, “He is blackmailing the West but the EU can have real influence here. It has a voice and voting rights within the IMF and as such Brussels can bring pressure by insisting that future IMF funding to Moldovan is strictly conditional on reforms in Moldova that will rid itself of odious people like Plahotnuic.

“The EU can also insist on fair and free presidential elections in November. This is all very important for the EU as many Moldovans are currently disappointed with its policy towards their country.

As proceeds from the bank robbery are thought to have been laundered through member states, Europol, the EU police agency, has a key role to play in an international investigation.

Chubashenko said: “The message that's being conveyed is this: the international community cannot afford to be seen to be backing a gangster.”

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