Vladimir Plahotniuc

Vladimir Plahotniuc
In office 30 December 2010 – October 2013
In office December 2014 – July 2015
Personal details
Born	(1966-01-01) 1 January 1966 Pituşca, Moldovan SSR, Soviet Union
Spouse(s)	Oxana Plahotniuc
Religion	Eastern Orthodoxy
Website	www.plahotniuc.md

Vladimir Plahotniuc (born 1 January 1966) is a Moldovan oligarch and politician.^{[1][2][3][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]}

Education

Plahotniuc was born in Pitușca, Călărași District. As he stated in an interview, a strong footprint in his education was left by his parents and grandparents.^[9] He attended the Grozeşti village secondary school, Nisporeni district. In 1983 he graduated this institution with a Cum Laude diploma.^[10] In 1991 he graduated the Technical University of Moldova with a bachelor's degree in Engineering, at the Food Industry Technology Department.^[10] In 2002 he obtained an MBA degree at the same University.^[11] In 2006 he obtained a master's degree in Civil Law at the European Studies University of Moldova.^[10]

Career

During 1991-1993 he held the position of specialist at the “Minor” Center for prevention and rehabilitation of juvenile offenders, affiliated with the Chişinău City Hall.^[10] He held the position of economist at “Euro EstHundel” Ltd Moldova, then he worked at “Voyage” Ltd Moldova. In 1995-1998 he founded “Angels” Moldovan-American Financial Group, which he managed until 2001.^[11] From 2001 to 2010 he held the position of Commercial Manager and afterwards he was the General Manager of “Petrom Moldova” JSC, dealing with oil import and distribution.^[11] Starting in 2005 he was appointed as the Vice Chairman of the Board at “Victoriabank ” commercial bank, one of the leading banks of Moldova and in 2006 he became its Chairman, a position held until January 2011.^[10][12] Since then he has single handedly ran the political world of Moldova.

Political activity

On the evening of November 19, during the meeting of the Political Bureau of the Democratic Party of Moldova, it has been decided to include Vladimir Plahotniuc on the 2nd spot on their party list.^[13] As a result, he delegated the administration of his businesses to his managers in order to be able to dedicate himself to.^[14] On December 30, 2010, during the Democratic Party National Political Council session, Vladimir Plahotniuc was appointed as the Deputy Chairman of the Democratic Party of Moldova.^[15] On the same day he was elected as the First Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova.^[10] He was also elected as to be member of the Economy, Budget and Finance Commission within the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova. On May 19, 2011, by Presidential decree, Marian Lupu founded the National Council for the Judiciary Reform which included Vladimir Plahotniuc as Vice Chairman.^[16]

Parliamentary diplomacy

Vlad Plahotniuc with Victor Ponta

As First Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova, Vladimir Plahotniuc had a number of working visits abroad. Thus, on March 2, 2011 Vlad Plahotniuc together with Marian Lupu, the interim President of the Republic of Moldova, visited Strasbourg.^[17]
Vladimir Plahotniuc visited the Republic of Lithuania in the period of May 22–24, 2011.^[18]
In the period of June 13–15, 2011 Vladimir Plahotniuc participated at the ninth Conference of Parliament Speakers of the Southeast European Cooperation Process.^[19] On July 28, 2011, in a framework of an official delegation, Vladimir Plahotniuc visited the Federal Republic of Germany. During the visit, Plahotniuc had meetings with his German counterpart Wolfgang Thierse, Deputy Speaker of the Budestag; Gernot Erler, Vice Chairman of Budestag Social–Democratic Party Parliamentary Faction; Rainer Lindner, Executive Manager of the Eastern Europe Council of the German Economy; Manfred Grund, member of Christian Democratic Party and Chairman of the Moldova-Germany Forum; Rainer Steenblock, Vice Chairman of the Moldova-Germany Forum and Nikolaus Graf Lambsdorff, former ambassador of FRG in Chişinău.^[20] On July 26, 2011 Plahotniuc paid an official visit to the House of Representatives of the Republic of Cyprus.^[21] In the period of September 19–20, 2011 he visited the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic.^[22]

On February 4, 2011 the First Deputy Speaker of the Parliament had a meeting with a delegation from the Government of the Czech Republic.^[23] On March 3, 2011 Vladimir Plahotniuc met with Victor Ponta, the leader of the Social Democratic Party of Romania and his party colleagues - Titus Corlățean, Viorel Hrebenciuc, Cristian Rizea, Tudor Panțâru and Cătălin Ivan.^[24] On April 13, 2011 Plahotniuc had a meeting with Kelemen Hunor, The Minister of Culture and National Heritage of Romania.^[25] On May 6, 2011 Vlad Plahotniuc met with the President of Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Parliamentary Assembly Petros Efthymiou.^[26] On May 27, 2011 the First Deputy Speaker Parliament of the Republic of Moldova met with Josep Casadevall, the Chairman of European Convention on Human Rights third section.^[27]

Vladimir Plahotniuc is a member of the Interparliamentary Assembly of CIS member states; Parliamentary Friendship Group with Switzerland, Hellenic Republic and Hungary.^[10]

Businessman

Vladimir Plahotniuc is a businessman who managed companies in the following domains: oil, financial and banking, hotel business, media and real estate.

Moldova Business People Association

The launch of the Moldova Business People Association

Prior to his entrance into politics on behalf of the Democratic Party of Moldova, on July 26, 2010, Vladimir Plahotniuc founded the Moldova Business People Association^[28] and in two months it launched its activity with an international economic summit, which had Dominique de Villepin, French politician and writer, former Minister of Foreign Affairs in the French Government, as a guest speaker of the event. The list of participants included Vladimir Plahotniuc, the Chairman of MBPA board; Andrian Candu - General Director of MBPA; Valeriu Lazar - Deputy Prime-Minister, Ministry of Economy and Commerce; Dorin Dragutanu Governor of National Bank of Moldova and many other honorable guests.^[29]

At Vladimir Plahotniuc’s initiative, the Moldova Business People Association launched a collaboration with the Academy of Sciences of Moldova, taking into account that research needs support from the business environment.^[30][31] On October 25, 2010, during a festive event, the Moldova Business People Association handed out diplomas to the top 100 managers from the Republic of Moldova^[32]

Edelweiss Foundation

Vladimir Plahotniuc together with the children from “Gracious Joseph” Orphanage

Vladimir Plahotniuc is also known as the Founder of Edelweiss Foundation which is involved in implementing various social projects in the Republic of Moldova.

The Foundation implemented many cultural projects, book donations, music concerts and artistic events,^{[33][34][35][36][37]} supported Moldovan sportsmen,^[38][39][40] provided financial support for people in need of medical care,^{[41][42][43][44]} Thus, flood victims of the summer 2010 Prut River overflowing received financial aid and goods,^[45][46][47] People in need from all around the country benefited from the same type of assistance and support,^[48][49][50] Edelweiss refurbished the dormitory building of the "Gracious Joseph" Orphanage and donated them various gifts.^{[51][52][53][54]}

Media controversy

Vladimir Plahotniuc acted as the Chairman of “Victoriabank”, one of the leading banks in Moldova until January 2011.^[10][12] Plahotniuc was worth 300 million dollars as stated in the wealthiest people top published by “Delo” Ukrainian business magazine, in August 2010.^[12] Money originated from both “Victoriabank” and “Petrom Moldova” activity, where he acted as Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors.^[12]

Despite the fact that his name is not mentioned in the founding documents, there is a rumor that Vlad Plahotniuc is the owner of the most luxurious hotel in Chişinău - “Nobil”.^[12] It was also said that he owns “Codru” hotel and “Asito” Insurance Company, “Drive” Night Club, “Prime” and “2Plus” TV stations and Prime FM Radio from Moldova.^[12]

Chişinău mass-media speculated on Sergiu Mocanu’s statements, a controversial businessman,^{[55][56][57][58]} who characterized himself as a former counselor with “special missions” for the ex-President of the Republic of Moldova, communist Vladimir Voronin, and named Plahotniuc the “shadow cardinal” of the ex-communist president's family.^[59] This label was attributed due to an alleged business relationship with the former communist President.^[59] Also the press speculated that Plahotniuc supported financially the Communist Party until 2009 and the Democratic Party since 2010.^[59]

At the beginning of 2011, shortly after his election in Parliament, “Adevarul” newspaper unveiled the fact that Vlad Plahotniuc has Romanian citizenship, being registered under the name of Vlad Ulinici.^[60] He explained his action by wanting to protect his children against discrimination during their studies in Romania.^[61] Later on he announced that he requested that his name be changed into Plahotniuc in his Romanian documents as well.^[62]

For the use of the false identity Vlad Plahotniuc faced criminal prosecution in Romania three years after his double-Ulinici Plahotniuc identity was revealed in newspaper "Adevarul" Moldova. As results from the prosecutor's decision to dismiss the criminal case, Vlad Plahotniuc did not face criminal liability in Romania for the use of false identities just because in Republic of Moldova using a false identity is not a crime.^[63][64]

In 2012 the First deputy Speaker of Republic of Moldova parliament Vlad Plahotniuc, was unmasked by the London Hight Court of Justice as the direct beneficiary of the raider attacks on the shareholders of Victoribank, Banca de Economii and ASITO.^[65]

References

External links

• Paralmentul Repubicii Moldova
• Partidul Democrat din Moldova
• Fundația Edelweiss
• Asociația Oamenilor de Afaceri din Moldova