Vladimir Plahotniuc

Vladimir Plahotniuc (born 1 January 1966), commonly referred to as Vlad Plahotniuc, is a Moldovan politician, businessman and oligarch.

Plahotniuc was born on 1 January 1966 in Pitușca, Călărași District, Moldavian SSR, Soviet Union (now Moldova).

As he stated in an interview, a strong footprint in his education was left by his parents and grandparents.

He attended the Grozești village secondary school, in Nisporeni District, graduating in 1983 with a cum laude diploma.

In 1991 he graduated the Technical University of Moldova with a bachelor's degree in Engineering, at the Food Industry Technology Faculty.

During 1991–1993, he held the position of specialist at the "Minor" Center for prevention and rehabilitation of juvenile offenders, affiliated with the Chișinău City Hall.

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.

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.

In 2002 he obtained an MBA degree at the same university.

In 2005 he was appointed 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 he held until January 2011.

Since then, he has been focusing on his political career as a member of the Democratic Party of Moldova.

In 2006 he obtained a master's degree in Civil Law at the European Studies University of Moldova.

In August 2010 Plahotniuc stated: "I don't get involved in politics. I'm not interested in running on a party list."

But on the evening of 19 November 2010, during the meeting of the Political Bureau of the Democratic Party of Moldova, it was decided to include Plahotniuc in 2nd place on its electoral party list.

As a result, he delegated the administration of his businesses to his managers to be able to dedicate himself to politics.

He became a member of the Parliament in December 2010, a position he held until October 2013, when he resigned.

On 30 December 2010 Plahotniuc was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Democratic Party of Moldova at the party's National Political Council session.

On the same day he was elected as the First Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova.

He was also elected as a member of the Parliament's Economy, Budget and Finance Committee.

On 19 May 2011, by presidential decree, Marian Lupu founded the National Council for the Judiciary Reform, which included Plahotniuc as vice-chairman.

In June 2012, Plahotniuc became First Deputy Chairman of the Democratic Party of Moldova.

On 15 February 2013, the parliamentary group of PCRM and PLDM, without the conclusion of the Parliament's "Legal Committee for Appointments and Immunities", together voted a motion of no confidence in Plahotniuc.

Following this decision, supported by the votes of 73 out of 101 deputies from the Communist Party and Liberal Democratic Party, the office of First Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of Moldova was abolished, and this is what prompted Plahotniuc to resign.

At the end of October 2013, Plahotniuc resigned as MP.

In 2014 Plahotniuc told reporters: "I entered politics with my business in place. I wanted to give something back, not the other way round."

He is one of the wealthiest people in Moldova, if not the wealthiest one.

According to his op-ed, he declares himself to be a huge supporter of EU integration and strengthening relations with the west.

In December 2014, Plahotniuc was re-elected as a member of Parliament, and in July 2015 he resigned again from this position "to focus his political activity on reforming the party".

In 2015, he founded a large media company, including General Media Group and Radio Media Group.

On 15 October 2015, on the day Vlad Filat was detained as part of the ongoing investigation into the 2014 Moldovan bank fraud scandal, Plahotniuc announced via Facebook that he had auto-suspended himself from the position of First Deputy Chairman of the Democratic Party of Moldova, and also from the position of a member of this party "... to avoid insinuations that he influences the investigation in the bank fraud case, and to avoid damaging the image of the party (PDM)".

He was the chairman of the Democratic Party of Moldova (24 December 2016 – 24 June 2019) and previously was a member of the Parliament of Moldova for three terms (December 2010 – October 2013, December 2014 – July 2015, February 2019 – July 2019), and served as First Vice President of the Parliament of Moldova (December 2010 – February 2013).

The motion of no confidence was the reason given in January 2016 by the Moldovan President, Nicolae Timofti, to reject Plahotniuc's candidature for the position of Prime Minister.

Timofti said that "Plahotniuc is not qualified for the Prime-Minister position".

He further said that among the qualifications for that position are that "the integrity of the candidate must not give rise to doubt".

In early May 2016 Plahotniuc, as an executive coordinator of the Governing Coalition Council, a previously unknown position, was on an official visit to Washington.

He attended an event of the Atlantic Council, where he met Victoria Nuland, assistant to the US Secretary of State.

In his turn, Plahotniuc urged the Prime Minister, Vlad Filat, who was later condemned for influence peddling and passive corruption, to follow his lead.

Until leaving the territory of the Republic of Moldova in 2019, he was considered to be the powerhouse of Moldovan politics in matters of influence, controlling Moldova's government and parliamentary majority.

Since fleeing Moldova in June 2019, Plahotniuc has resided in Turkey.