Former Moldovan PM faces arrest after French money-laundering verdict

A French court has sentenced former Moldovan Prime Minister Vlad Filat to two years in prison and imposed a €100,000 fine for money laundering in a corruption case.

In a decision dated December 8, the Paris Criminal Court also issued an arrest warrant for Filat, who failed to appear for the proceedings, Agerpres reports.

The court further handed down an 18-month suspended prison sentence and a €150,000 fine to Filat’s former wife. She was also ordered, jointly with Filat, to pay €10,000 in moral damages to the Republic of Moldova.

Filat, 56, served as prime minister of Moldova from 2009 to 2013. In 2016, he was convicted in his home country of corruption and abuse of power and sentenced to nine years in prison. He was accused of embezzling $260 million as part of a wider fraud scheme estimated at $1 billion. According to local media, Filat was released from prison in 2019 and currently heads the pro-European Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova (PLDM).

In the French proceedings, Filat was found guilty of money laundering connected to the bribery of a foreign public official. The court determined that Filat and his former wife acquired several properties in 2012 and 2014, notably in the Haute-Savoie region of southeastern France, through corporate structures and an intermediary. The purchases were financed with funds originating from a Canadian company that won the contract to operate Moldova’s National Lottery in 2011, at a time when Filat was serving as head of government.

In its ruling, the court concluded that Filat “knowingly laundered money derived from his own corruption while leading his country’s government and, as such, was obliged to act in the public interest.”

The judges added that the offenses must be viewed “in light of the economic fragility and weak development of the Republic of Moldova, as well as the democratic values and transparency promoted by the party he led, which was oriented toward the European Union.” The court ordered the confiscation of the real estate assets involved in the case.

By Vafa Guliyeva