Case prosecutor presents secret witness’s testimony in Billion Theft file in Moldova; Vladimir Plahotniuc does not attend hearing

Prosecutor Alexandru Cernei today presented the statements of the secret witness in the ‘billion theft’ file, in the episode in which the former leader of Moldovan Democratic Party (PDM), Vladimir Plahotniuc, is being investigated. The court hearing took place in the absence of Vladimir Plahotniuc, who claimed that he was “preparing for the stage of judicial debates.”

At the beginning of the hearing, the judges allowed the prosecutor to read out the statements of the secret witness, who has the status of an undercover investigator.

“The undercover investigator confirms the structure or setup of the defendant’s financial activity, how the tasks were distributed, how the companies were divided, how the mechanisms were created to hide the beneficial owner and the origin of certain funds transferred through different companies in more countries. The witness confirms the part related to the assets or property that were held by the defendant at that time. Some of them have been seized. Also, the person confirms the episode regarding the purchase of an airplane, the way the transactions were carried out and who the persons and companies responsible for the transactions were,” said Alexandru Cernei.

For his part, Vladimir Plahotniuc’s lawyer, Lucian Rogac, said that the statements of the undercover witness cannot serve as the basis for a sentence, because some of the circumstances and facts invoked are not proven by other means.

“With regard to this witness, most likely it is a person from Vladimir Plahotniuc’s entourage. We do not know exactly who he is,” said Lucian Rogac.

Also, during today’s hearing, the defense submitted more motions to the court. They include the request to hear five persons indicated by the undercover witness, the raising of two exceptions of unconstitutionality and the ordering of an expert examination.

Regarding these, the case prosecutor, Alexandru Cernei, described the requests as “obvious actions to delay the examination of the case”.

During the statements, the sides pointed out that judicial debates would begin in the upcoming hearings.

In addition, besides the ‘billion theft’ case, the former leader of the Democrats will be investigated for forgery of documents in a new criminal case. The latter has been was recently initiated on the basis of documents seized by Greek investigators from the house that Vladimir Plahotniuc was renting in Athens, Greece. The documents show that he allegedly used multiple identities, with a total of 18 forged documents being discovered.

Vladimir Plahotniuc has been in pre-trial detention since September 25, 2025, after being extradited from Greece, at which time the four arrest warrants issued in his name were enforced. He is currently held in Penitentiary No. 13 from Chisinau and is under investigation in four high-profile criminal cases, which concern, among other things, the establishment and leadership of a criminal organization, fraud, money laundering and bank fraud.