Corruption scandal surrounding the Prosecutor General of Moldova
Moldova’s history has seen many high-level corruption scandals. We still remember well those stories about “Filat’s private flights”, “Kuliocul for Dodon”, scandals at customs, courts and many others. In spite of this, we always continue to believe that the situation is about to change for the better when new people come to power. That they will be better than those that left power. Do you remember, how many laudatory speeches there were about Alexandr Stoianoglo when he was appointed Prosecutor General of Moldova. “Professional”, “honest”, “fair”, “incorruptible”. Now he will set things right – he will put all the crooks in jail and defeat corruption.
But again, something has gone wrong. Instead of jailing the bandits, Alexandr Stoianoglo decided to protect them and instead of fighting corruption, he decided to rule it.
For several months we have been investigating the events of the main scandal of early 2021 concerning the Prosecutor General of Moldova, his wife and the scandalous businessman with 90s habits, Veaceslav Platon. During this time, we have managed to collect dozens of documents, communicate with people directly involved in the situation, double-check information received from various sources, reports from Ukraine etc.
If you want to know the whole truth about this scandal, about 5.5 million US dollars belonging to Alexandr Stoianoglo and his family, about the role of Veaceslav Platon and his Ukrainian companies in the fortune that fell on the head of the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Moldova about the following agreements and schemes in the judicial system of Moldova, then below are for your attention the results of this investigation with all official documents, testimonies, diagrams and stenograms.
INTRODUCTION
Moldova met at the beginning of 2021 with another scandal.
On January 6, 2021, the suspended Chief Prosecutor of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office of Moldova Viorel Morari held a press conference at which he announced that the wife of the Prosecutor General of Moldova Alexandr Stoianoglo is the real owner of the Ukrainian companies of Veaceslav Platon.
Immediately after him, on the same day, Veaceslav Platon also held a press conference, at which he spoke in defense of Moldovan Prosecutor General Alexandr Stoianoglo and declared the unreliability of the information and falsification of data expressed by Viorel Morari a little earlier.
Alexandr Stoianoglo also publicly denied Viorel Morari’s claims that his wife owns Veaceslav Platon’s companies. The scandal that started violently at the beginning of the year with the prosecutor general’s wife after the end of the New Year and Christmas holidays has also suddenly calmed down. All his characters prefer to remain silent and refuse to comment publicly on the situation.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian press claims that years of experience in journalism suggest that this kind of “quiet” behavior of the participants in the scandal is not typical of “finger-sucking” situations [note: What the direct heroes of the scandal, Mr. Platon and Mr. Stoianoglo, tried to convince us about]. On the contrary, this is the behaviour of people who have something to hide.
Therefore, from-ua.com we decided to study this situation in detail from the inside, as well as to verify all versions of events previously expressed by its heroes.
ESSENCE OF THE INVESTIGATION
To begin with, let’s recall once again what the scandal was all about.
At the beginning of January 2021, information was published that a certain Tvetana Kurdova, who is alleged to be the wife of the Prosecutor General of Moldova Alexandr Stoianoglo, is the real owner of the Ukrainian companies OOO “Verlok Development Inc” and OOO “Jet Business Limited”, which previously belonged to the controversial businessman Veaceslav Platon, who is under investigation.
Veaceslav Platon and Alexandr Stoianoglo hastily made statements that such information is not true and that the wife of the Prosecutor General is not associated with these companies.
Veaceslav Platon also stated that these companies, OOO “Verlok Development Inc” and OOO “Jet Business Limited” are “dummies” which have no assets and therefore there was no point in re-registering them in favour of Tvetana Kurdova. Tvetana Kurdova refrains from commenting on this matter. In order to establish the truth in this case and to finally find out which of its heroes is lying through their teeth, www.from-ua.com gathered evidence and verified the following information:
- Who is Moldovan Prosecutor General Alexandru Stoyanoglo married to? Is Tvetana Kurdova related to him in any way?
- How is Veacheslav Platon associated with Ukrainian companies “Verlok Development Inc.” and Jet Business Limited?
- What is known about the activities of the Ukrainian companies “Verlok Development Inc.” and Jet Business Limited?
- Are there any assets behind them? Verlock Development Inc. and Jet Business Limited, changed the real owner of these companies at the beginning of 2021?
- What could be the reason for the change of the real owner of the companies “Verlok Development Inc.” and Jet Business Limited?
The answers to these questions, which are based on irrefutable evidence, clearly demonstrate “what really happened” and raise serious doubts about the decency and honesty of Mr. Stoyanoglo, who proclaimed himself the “main fighter” against crime in Moldova. Further – just the facts that speak eloquently for themselves.
THE WIFE OF THE PROSECUTOR GENERAL
The Internet is full of photos showing the Prosecutor General of Moldova with his wife:
She leads a secular life and doesn’t hesitate to show the public their relationship with her husband. As you can see in the photo, the Prosecutor General’s wife is a citizen of Moldova Tvetana Kurdova [in Russian and Ukrainian it is found under the name Tvetana Kurdova or Tsvetana Kurdova], born on 21 January 1970, identity card (passport) B1860188, personal code 0971306195205.
Remember this passport – a little further down in you`ll find it again in a very interesting place. It has repeatedly become the subject of journalistic investigation. Thus, journalists of the Internet resource https://anticoruptie.md, which specializes in exposing corruption among high officials of the Republic of Moldova, wrote about how Alexandr Stoianoglo, together with his wife Tsvetana (Tvetana) Kurdova, own a property in Chisinau at the address: bul. Renasterii Naționale, 16.
Journalists have established that there is a glamorous beauty salon “OPIUM” at this address, which is owned and operated by the wife of Prosecutor General Tsvetana (Tvetan) Kurdova, and her income is not declared by Alexandr Stoianoglo. Also, during his tenure as a member of the Moldovan Parliament, Alexandr Stoianoglo publicly declared that his wife Tsvetana (Tvetana) Kurdova is a sole private entrepreneur:
According to the official information of the Registration Chamber of Moldova, the Individual Entrepreneur”Curodva Tvetana” was registered at the address: CHISINAU, FLORICA NITSA STREET, 7/1, apt. (office) 34.
As established by journalists of another authoritative Internet publication https://newsmaker.md/, the indicated registration address of FE “Curdova Tvetana” is the official place of residence of the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Moldova, Alexandr Stoianoglo.
Please note this address – city of Chisinau, FLORIKA NITSA street, house 7/1, ap. (off.) 34 – we will see it later.
So, we see that in the family of Alexandr Stoianoglo, his wife Tsvetana (Tvetana) Kurdova has taken over the “business role”, for which the assets belonging to the family of the Prosecutor General are registered and administered.
PLATON’S CONNECTION WITH UKRAINIAN COMPANIES
Veaceslav Platon has never hidden the fact that Ukrainian companies Jet Business Limited and Verlok Development Inc. belonged to him. In particular, he directly confirmed this during a press conference held on January 6, 2021. They were created by Platon to own and manage his Moldovan assets. Legally, they were designed as follows:
Jet Business Limited:
Following the Jet Business Limited Charter and official information from the Unified State Register of Ukraine, which is publicly available: Veaceslav Platon is the founder of Jet Business Limited,
1. Jet Business Limited is registered under the identification code – 36677765,
2. Jet Business Limited is registered at the address – Kiev, st. Staronavodnitskaya, 8b, Since 19.09.2014, the irreplaceable head of Jet Business Limited is Maxim Kinishenko,
3. Jet Business Limited LLC phone number is +38 050 356 55 95.
“Verlok Development Inc.”:
1. Following the Charter Verlok Development Inc. LLC and official information from the Unified State Register of Ukraine:
2. Alena Stashevskaya is the founder of Verlok Development Inc.,
3. LLC “Verlok Development Inc.” registered under the identification code – 36589213,
4. LLC “Verlok Development Inc.” registered at address – Kiev, st. Kropyvnitskogo, 18, office 34, Since 2009, 5. the irreplaceable head of Verlok Development Inc. is Oleg Belonog.
Journalists www.from-ua.com claim to have spoken to the official heads of these companies – Ukrainian citizens Oleg Belonog and Maksim Kinishenko, and found that they are only to figure for Verlok Development Inc. LLC. and Jet Business Limited LLC respectively. They have no knowledge of the real business of these companies and exercise no real control over them. Platon pays them only to sign the documents he needs for these companies, to file these documents with the proper authorities, and to act officially as representatives of these companies to third parties.
According to them, the actual management and control of “Verlok Development Inc.” and Jet Business Limited, Veaceslav Platon operates through his Kiev office, where the closest administrators – Ludmila Mazina and Vitali Podvishevski – work.
Their claims have been confirmed by other independent sources. So, from a source in Ukrainian law enforcement agencies, it is known that Ludmila Mazina and Vitali Podvishevski repeatedly came to the attention of Ukrainian law enforcement officers during the investigation of criminal cases and the collection of information about the criminal community organized by Veaceslav Platon.
According to this source, Ukrainian law enforcement officers gathered sufficient evidence indicating that a citizen of Ukraine Ludmila Mazina (Fig. 13), born 11.11.1968, ID 2515205680, was Platon’s personal accountant since the mid-2000s. She is responsible for Platon’s personal finances, accounting assistance for his companies both in Ukraine and abroad, cooperation with banks and denominations.
Representing Platon’s interests, Ludmila Mazina prepared and submitted, among other things, financial and accounting documents for Verlok Development Inc. LLC. and Jet Business Limited LLC, as confirmed by internal data of the Tax Service of Ukraine.
fig.13
As for Vitali Podvishevski (Fig. 14), he, a citizen of Ukraine, born 10 April 1974, ID 2712820897, is a childhood friend of Platon. There are many journalistic investigations on the web, which indicate a connection between Veaceslav Platon and Vitali Podvishevski. The personal mobile phone number used by Vitali Podvishevski – +38 050 356 55 95 – is listed directly as the contact number for Jet Business Limited.
fig. 14
Also his long-time friend Vladimir Cherniakov (Fig. 15), a citizen of Ukraine, born 30.05.1971, ID 2608213018, is involved in the work of the Platon office in Kiev. Vladimir Cherniakov is regularly used by Platon in all kinds of fraudulent schemes.
fig. 15
Thus, he represented the interests of Veaceslav Platon in the Moldovan joint venture Agrovistrade LLC (identification code 1011600002948).
fig. 16
This company was used by Platon to carry out multi-million dollar fraudulent schemes, which was later set up by the National Anti-Corruption Centre and shown in its 2013 Report.
fig. 17
At the moment, these individuals – Ludmila Mazina, Vladimir Cherniakov, Vitali Podvishevski – form the backbone of Platon’s Kiev office and are responsible for the conduct of all its business in Ukraine, including Jet Business Limited LLC and Verlok Development Inc. LLC.
As for Aleona Stashevskaya, who is officially listed as the founder of Verlok Development Inc. she, as known and confirmed by several journalistic materials, is another close confidant of Veaceslav Platon.
ASSETS IN THESE COMPANIES
www.from-ua.com has collected evidence that Platon Jet Business Limited and Verlok Development Inc. has assets worth millions of dollars.
Thus, it is a well-known fact that these companies were shareholders of Moldindconbank.
Jet Business Limited held 186,768 shares of Moldindconbank, which represented 3.76% of its authorized capital.
“Verlok Development Inc.” held 224,370 shares of Moldindconbank, which represented 4.52% of its authorized capital.
This information is public and is confirmed by Moldindconbank:
fig. 19 The total market value of these blocks of shares held by Jet Business Limited LLC and Verlok Development Inc. has been estimated at over USD 10 million.
On 20 October 2016, the National Bank of Moldova imposed sanctions on part of Moldindconbank’s shareholders in connection with violations of current legislation.
These shareholders included Platon Jet Business Limited and Verlok Development Inc. :
fig. 20
Due to the sanctions of the National Bank of Moldova, Moldindconbank shares belonging to these Ukrainian companies were cancelled, new shares were issued in their place, which were subsequently sold to the new owner.
According to Moldovan law, the funds received from the sale of newly issued shares are transferred to a temporary bank account opened by the bank for this purpose. The bank records the funds received from the sale of newly issued shares in the accounts of the previous owners (Clause (17) of Article 521 of the Law of Moldova No. 202 of 06-10-2017 “On the Activities of Banks”).
According to official notifications from Moldindconbank, in February 2019, these newly issued shares of the bank were sold to the Public Property Agency of Moldova at a price of 239.50 lei per share.
fig. 21
fig. 22
Given that:
- Jet Business Limited owned 186 768 shares of Moldindconbank and that the shares issued to replace them were sold at a price of 239.50 lei per share, the amount of compensation due to the former owner under the Moldovan Law “On Banking Activities” ” Jet Business Limited ” is – 44 730 936 lei, which at the current exchange rate is equivalent to approximately 2.5 million US dollars.
Amount of compensation for Jet BusinessLimited 186 768 (pieces) x 239,50 (lei) = 44 730 936 lei or approximately 2,5 million US dollars
- “Verlok Development Inc.” held 224,370 shares of Moldindconbank and that the shares issued to replace them were sold at a price of 239.50 lei per share, the amount of compensation which, according to the Moldovan Law “On Banking Activities”, is to be paid to the former owner of Verlok Development Inc. LLC. ” is – 53 736 615 lei, which at the current exchange rate is equivalent to approximately 3 million US dollars.
The amount of compensation for LLC “Verlok Development Inc.” 224 370 (pieces) x 239,50 (lei) = 53 736 615 lei or approximately 3 million US dollars
This evidence undeniably indicates that these Plato’s companies are not “dummies” [note: As Plato and Stoianoglo tried to present them to us] and hold valuable assets in the form of monetary compensation rights totaling approximately 5.5 million US Dollars.
So, we see that Platon and Stoianoglo are lying through their teeth when they try to convince us all that the Ukrainian companies Jet Business Limited and Verlok Development Inc. are worthless, that they own no assets and that there is no material interest in re-registering them in the name of the Attorney General’s wife.
CHANGE OF OWNERSHIP OF UKRAINIAN COMPANIES
Since in this case we are talking about Ukrainian companies, all issues related to registration actions for such companies are regulated by the legislation of Ukraine, in particular by the Law of Ukraine “State Registration of Legal Entities, Individual Entrepreneurs and Public Organizations” (hereinafter – the Law on Registration).
Understanding the Law on Registration, the beneficial owner of a legal entity (company) is a person who exercises decisive influence over the activities of a legal entity (including through the chain of control/ownership) (Article 1 of the Law).
According to the mentioned Registration Act:
- The unified state register contains information about the ultimate beneficial owner of a legal person (Article 9),
- Legal persons must have information about the ultimate beneficial owner (Article 17(21)),
- Legal persons are obliged to keep the information about the ultimate beneficial owner and ownership structure up to date, update it and notify the state registrar of changes within 30 working days of their occurrence and submit documents confirming such changes to the state registrar ( paragraph 22 of Article 17),
- If the documents and information to be entered into the registry If the documents and information to be entered in the Unified State Register are entered in the Unified
- State Register, such documents and information are deemed reliable and may be used in a dispute with a third party (Article 10).
Www.from-ua.com managed to obtain copies of the documents, based on which information was entered into the Unified State Register of Ukraine that Tvetana Curdova is the beneficial owner of Jet Business Limited and Verlok Development Inc. In particular, these include an inventory of the submission of documents and a copy of the passport of the new beneficiary.
These documents are described below:
fig. 23
fig. 24
fig. 25
From these documents it is clear and indisputable that:
- On January 5, 2021, Platon’s authorized nominee director of Verlok Development Inc. – Oleg Belonog personally came to the notary in Kiev and, in accordance with the procedure established by law, submitted updated information about the new ultimate beneficial owner of this company.
- On January 5, 2021, Platon’s authorized nominee director at Jet Business Limited LLC – Maxim Kinishenko personally appeared before the notary in Kyiv and, in accordance with the procedure established by law, submitted updated information about the new ultimate beneficial owner of this company.
- A copy of the passport of the new beneficial owner of the companies LLC “Verlok Development Inc.” and Jet Business Limited LLC Tvetana Kurdova (Fig. 25) completely matches the copy of the passport of the wife of the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Moldova Tsvetana (Tvetana) Kurdova (Fig. 3)
- The wife of the Prosecutor General of Moldova, Alexandr Stoianoglo – Tvetana Kurdova, is the new ultimate beneficial owner of Veaceslav Platon companies with millions of assets: LLC “Verlok Development Inc.” and Jet Business Limited LLC.
Thus, as the Registration Law requires that the Unified State Register of Ukraine contains up-to-date information about the ultimate beneficial owners of Ukrainian companies, and since Platon signed his Ukrainian companies over to the wife of the Prosecutor General of Moldova, on January 5, 2021, the Unified State Register of Ukraine has posted the current information about the realization of the described actions.
fig. 26
fig. 27
It should also be noted that the residence address of the new beneficiary Jet Business Limited and LLC Verlok Development Inc. indicated in the Unified State Register of Ukraine. – Moldova, Chisinau, st. Florica Nitsa, 7/1, apt. 34 – fully coincides with the address of the official residence of the Prosecutor General of Moldova Alexandr Stoianoglo.
At the same time, according to the Ukrainian law, the information contained in the Unified State Register of Ukraine is reliable (Article 10 of the Law on Registration).
Asked Platon’s nominees – Oleg Belonog and Maksim Kinishenko, what prompted them to turn to the notary in Kiev to update the company’s beneficiary information, they said in early 2021, Platon’s Kiev office contacted them (in the same way as always before) about the need to fulfill its orders and instructed them to come to the notary in Kiev and submit the necessary documents to the companies.
On the appointed date, 5 January 2021, they complied with all their instructions, came to a certain notary, where they personally signed and submitted the required documents from Jet Business Limited and Verlok Development Inc.
They performed all of these actions in full compliance with the instructions of Platon and his representatives. In addition to performing these actions, they did not receive any other instructions from Veaceslav Platon, Tsvetana (Tvetana) Kurdova and others that would require them to correct any information about these Ukrainian companies in the confessions.
They are also unaware of the existence of any claims, litigation or other lawsuits challenging these actions to update information about the beneficiary of the Ukrainian companies Jet Business Limited and Verlok Development Inc.
Thus, following the verification of this information, no sign has been revealed that the direct heroes of this scandal – Veaceslav Platon, Alexandr Stoianoglo, or Tvetana Curdova – do not agree with the changes to the beneficiary of the Ukrainian companies and are taking steps to protect themselves.
Moreover, the situation, on the contrary, looks in such a way that all parties to this scandal are completely satisfied with the current state of affairs and fully support the beneficiary of the wife of the Prosecutor General of Moldova to the companies Jet Business Limited and Verlok Development Inc.
Thus, 3 months after the date of entry into the Unified State Register of Ukraine of information proving that the wife of the Prosecutor General of Moldova is the beneficiary of Platon’s Ukrainian companies with assets worth millions of dollars, this information remains relevant and is not contested by any of the interested parties.
fig. 28
Therefore, Ukrainian journalists note that the noisy statements made by Platon and Stoianoglo about the alleged falsification of documents about the Prosecutor General’s wife being a beneficiary of Ukrainian companies, which is aimed at discrediting the Prosecutor General, turned out to be another falsehood on their part, which is completely refuted by real facts.
Today, in light of the proven facts, Ukrainian journalists say it is certain that the wife of the Prosecutor General of Moldova, Tvetana Curdova, is the owner of undeclared assets worth millions of dollars that she received from Veaceslav Platon, who is under criminal investigation.
PLATON’S REASONS FOR REGISTERING THE COMPANIES WITH THE ATTORNEY GENERAL’S WIFE
The current situation of the Ukrainian companies Jet Business Limited and Verlok Development Inc. clearly demonstrates that in this case we are talking about an absolutely cynical and undisguised case of corruption of the Prosecutor General of Moldova by Veaceslav Platon, who is under investigation. And the scale of such corruption is truly impressive – USD 5.5 million, which Alexandr Stoianoglo’s wife claims as the beneficiary of these Ukrainian companies.
Given the fact that Moldova’s Prosecutor General, Alexandr Stoianoglo, has been looking out for Veaceslav Platon throughout his tenure, giving him unlimited support and protection, pulling him out of the Russian Laundromat hit, contributing to his illegal actions on the new seizures of Moldovan insurance companies and the impending attacks on the banking sector, it is safe to say that Platon’s transfer of assets to his wife Stoianoglo for such a fabulous sum is nothing more than payment for this kind of loyalty to the Attorney General and his services.
At the same time, it should be noted that a scenario is currently developing in Moldova agreed between Platon and Stoyanoglo for his wife Tsvetana (Tvetana) Kurdova to receive the indicated 5.5 million US dollars. The fact is that at present the possibility of obtaining these 5.5 million US dollars is limited by the seizure of funds, which was imposed by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office in the criminal case of Veaceslav Platon, which is now being reviewed on the personal initiative of Alexandr Stoyanoglo.
In order to release these funds from arrest and make it possible to receive them, Veaceslav Platon and Alexandr Stoianoglo have developed and are implementing the following scheme.
Platon’s henchmen in the Kiev office – Ludmila Mazina and Vladimir Cherniakov, as former [Note: together with Ukrainian companies, the Prosecutor General’s wives] Moldindconbank shareholders, initiated legal proceedings in Moldova against the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, the subject of which was the funds to be paid to the former Moldindconbank shareholders, who came under National Bank sanctions in 2016 and lost their shares.
The next court hearings in these cases are scheduled for 20.04.2021 and 21.04.2021.
fig. 30
fig. 31
In these trials, the Prosecutor’s Office, at the direction of Alexandr Stoianoglo, must “facilitate” Plato’s interests and “lose” these cases to his proxies. The court will adopt a decision in Platon’s favour and order the removal of the seizure of funds that should have been paid to the former shareholders of Moldindconbank, who fell under the sanctions of the National Bank in 2016 and lost their shares.
After that, the Prosecutor General’s wife should get into the “game” and, using her husband’s support and court rulings in these cases, obtain Jet Business Limited and Verlok Development Inc. for Ukrainian companies controlled by her, worth $5.5 million.
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