As it became known to Kommersant, the former Moldindconbank top manager Elena Platon, sister of the notorious Moldovan businessman Vyacheslav Platon, fully admitted her guilt of participating in the withdrawal of more than $ 1 billion from Russia. Despite this, as well as testimony that others were members of the organized criminal community, the lawyers of Mrs. Plato failed to achieve the transfer of his client either under house arrest, or to release her on bail. Vyacheslav Platon himself is serving a sentence in his homeland.
The Moscow City Court considered the appeal of the lawyers of Elena Platon, the former head of the treasury of Moldindconbank, against the decision of the Tver district court of Moscow, which on May 25, 2019 sent her to the SIZO for two months. As follows from the materials of the criminal case, Mrs. Plato, hiding from the criminal prosecution of Moldovan law enforcement agencies in the Russian capital, was detained the day before. According to “Kommersant”, the person involved in the Russian criminal case, which the investigative department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs has been investigating for more than four years, the ex-banker became in January of this year. Then, she was charged in absentia with the commission of currency operations to transfer money to non-resident accounts using forged documents and participation in the criminal community (Art. 193.1 and Art. 210 of the Criminal Code).
As I already told Kommersant, the first person involved in this case appeared only in February of this year, when Alexander Korkin, a shareholder of Victoriabank owned by Moldovan oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc, was arrested in Moscow and arrested the same day by the Tversky district court.
According to the investigators, OPS participants, including Brother and Sister Platon, in 2013–2014, using fraudulent documents, organized a transfer from the accounts of legal entities controlled by them in Zapadny Bank and the Russian Land Bank (RZB) to non-resident accounts in Moldindconbank under the pretext of selling currency. The funds received were debited from the correspondent accounts of Russian banks in Moldindconbank on false decisions of the courts of Moldova in favor of individuals and legal entities. Thus, according to the calculations of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, more than 37 billion rubles were taken abroad. According to investigators, the shadow owner of Zapadny banks and RZB Alexander Grigoriev, who is being tried in Rostov-on-Don, but for other financial frauds, also participated in illegal operations.
Elena Plato considers the investigation the right hand of her brother Vyacheslav: she directly led the OPS in his interests. From the testimony of other defendants in the case, it is Elena Platon who gave direct instructions to the accomplices in the crime.
According to Kommersant, Elena Plato fully acknowledged her guilt in the incriminated acts. At the same time, she testified to expose other alleged OPS participants.
Perhaps, thanks to this data, the former member of the board of directors of the European Express Bank Oleg Kuzmin, who also admitted to participating in the withdrawal of funds from Russia, was recently arrested (“I told about it in detail on June 28). However, there is no information on the conclusion by Ms. Plato of the pre-trial cooperation agreement with the prosecutor yet.
Note that in addition to these circumstances, the lawyers during the consideration by the Moscow City Court of the appeal for the arrest of Mrs. Plato also said that their defendant “is accused of committing a crime not related to violence, and therefore does not constitute any danger to society, and also has a dependent minor child. "
However, these arguments were not enough to change the preventive measure to a softer one. Moreover, the court in its decision noted that the accused Plato "is a citizen of a foreign state, does not have a permanent residence in the territory of the Russian Federation". In addition, the court took into account that Elena Platon was declared internationally wanted by the law enforcement agencies of Moldova for committing serious crimes, but is currently hiding in Russia. As a result, Moldovan citizen Elena Platon will remain under arrest until at least July 23, especially since the period of preliminary investigation of the case was recently extended until September 17, 2019.
We also note that the Moldovan businessman Vyacheslav Platon, who was accused of withdrawing money, including from Russian banks, was detained in Kiev in September 2016 and extradited to Moldova. In 2017, the court sentenced him to 18 years in prison. According to “Kommersant”, the Russian side tried to obtain his temporary extradition to conduct investigative actions in its criminal case, but so far unsuccessfully. Another person involved in the international search is the former leader of the Democratic Party, ruling in Moldova, Vladimir Plahotniuc. Moreover, Russian law enforcement agencies accuse him not only of withdrawing a billion dollars from the country through the so-called Moldovan scheme, but also of organizing an assassination attempt on Renato Usaty, a businessman from Chisinau, as well as organizing a criminal community supplying hashish from North Africa.