MOLDOVA-PROTESTS/FILAT Moldova detains former PM in parliament over $1 billion fraud

Record ID: 135358

  • Title: MOLDOVA-PROTESTS/FILAT Moldova detains former PM in parliament over $1 billion fraud
  • Date: 15th October 2015
  • Summary: CHISINAU, MOLDOVA (OCTOBER 15, 2015) (REUTERS) SCREEN IN STREET SHOWING PARLIAMENT SESSION IN PROGRESS VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS WITH SOCIALIST PARTY FLAGS MARCHING PROTESTERS CHANTING 'MOLDOVA' MEMBERS OF 'OUR PARTY' MARCHING PROTESTERS CHANTING (Russian) 'GIVE BACK BILLIONS!' PROTESTERS CHANTING RALLY IN PROGRESS VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS SHOUTING VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS CHANTING
  • Embargoed: 30th October 2015 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA474Y4EH8FZH4GXSYASTYS5YZR
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Former Moldovan Prime Minister Vlad Filat was detained in parliament on Thursday (October 15) over the theft of $1 billion from the banking system, a crime that has led thousands to camp out in the capital in protest.
    According to Moldovan media, Filat was handcuffed by masked officials from Moldova's anti-corruption bureau. Anti-government protesters had blocked the exits to the building for most of the day to prevent him leaving.
    A spokesman for the anti-corruption office said Filat had been formally taken in for questioning. Under Moldovan law he can be held for 72 hours after which the court must make a decision on his status.
    Filat denies any connection to the large fraud, which has weakened the former Soviet republic's currency and damaged living standards in what was already Europe's poorest country.
    Thousands of protesters have camped out in central Chisinau since early September demanding resignations of senior government officials and early elections.
    Earlier on Thursday, Chief Prosecutor Corneliu Gurin asked parliament to strip Filat of his immunity from prosecution as a lawmaker.
    "We demand to strip Member of Parliament Vladimir Filat of parliamentary immunity to charge him and put on trial for corruption crimes and direct involvement in finance and banking fraud, which caused grave damage to the economic, social and political situation in the Republic of Moldova," Gurin said.
    Last November, three of Moldova's largest banks were placed under special administration after they were reduced to insolvency by the haemorrhage of the $1 billion - equivalent to around one eighth of its gross domestic product - through a web of toxic loans, asset swaps and shareholder deals.
    Filat, who heads the pro-European Liberal Democrat Party of Moldova (LDPM) and served as prime minister from 2009 to 2013, on Thursday protested his innocence.
    "I will cooperate with the investigation with a hope that this will be a fair and correct proceeding," he told a news conference in the parliament before he was stripped of immunity.
    Of the 99 lawmakers registered to vote, 79 voted in favour of the decision, comfortably over the 51-vote minimum.
    "We have a clear position today: the Alliance for European Integration does not exist anymore. European integration in Republic of Moldova failed," Igor Dodon, leader of the opposition Socialist party said in parliament.
    A protest leader, Renato Usatii, promised to buy a Mercedes car for any policeman who handcuffed the former premier inside the parliamentary chamber.
    Usatii is a millionaire businessman and head of a pro-Russian political party, and says he wants to run for president.
    The fraud has held up the disbursement of valuable budget support from international lenders and highlighted the corrosive rivalry between oligarch groups in Moldova that might yet derail its avowed course towards European integration.
    Protesters say pro-Europe leaders have done little to halt economic mismanagement or shake off graft accusations in a country where the average family income amounts to little more than $300 a month.
    They have promised to camp out in Chisinau until their demands for a new president and government are met. They also want officials from Moldova's central bank, prosecutors' office and anti-corruption bureau to be held accountable for the banking swindle.
    "These authorities should resign. It is obligatory. They were caught stealing. They are stealing from people. They are stealing from everyone. This should not happen," one of the protesters Svetlana Urzanovskaya said.
    "I want to make sure the laws work in this country, so that the written laws would work equally for everyone, not only for us, working people," another protester Ion Luchian said.
    Central bank governor Dorin Dragutanu announced his resignation last month, but denied responsibility for the fraud.
    Moldovan President Nicolae Timofti has been in office since 2012 and Prime Minister Valeriu Strelet since July. Strelet's predecessor, Chiril Gaburici, quit after just 100 days in office after allegations surfaced that his school diplomas were forged.
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