The ex-head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the head of Plahotniuc’s security company came to the attention of the SIS
Former Minister of Internal Affairs under the PCRM government and former director of the Center for Combating Economic Crimes (current NAC), Valentin Mežinschi, came under the close attention of the Information and Security Service (ISS).
The Anticoruptie portal managed to learn from its sources that Mezhinsky is included in the list of persons associated with the former leader of the democrats Vlad Plahotniuc, who are subject to international sanctions. Journalists from the Center for Investigative Journalism of Moldova (CIJM) found that Argus-S LLC, managed by Mezhinsky and headed by Plahotniuc’s financier Dorin Damir, has received the most profitable contracts with the state since 2015.
Valentin Mezhinsky filed a lawsuit against the SIS, and the case was transferred to Judge Igor Barbacar from the Chisinau Court. Consideration of the application is scheduled for the last month of the year.
Argus-S was involved in a 2013 scandal involving wiretapping of several high-ranking officials. Then the company came to the attention of the prosecutor’s office, which announced the initiation of a criminal case.
In addition to violating the right to privacy, prosecutors also investigated the company for smuggling and the creation or leadership of a criminal group.
The company provided personal security for Plahotniuc, as well as security for the house on Bolgarskaya Street, which belonged to his family. Two CCTV cameras were installed on each corner of the house, and security company employees monitored the images from a makeshift booth set up in the courtyard.
In 2020, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office managed to seize the financial assets of SRL Argus-S in the amount of more than 11 million lei in BC Victoriabank SA, which they planned to transfer to a non-resident company in Turkey.
“As part of the case of bank fraud, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, together with the Service for the Prevention and Combating of Money Laundering, established that on November 9, 2020, Argus-S LLC initiated two transfers totaling more than 660 thousand dollars in favor of the non-resident company Otiv Prime Services BV, to a bank account opened in Turkey. We clarify that the former leader of the PDM is in the Republic of Turkey,” the press release of the Prosecutor General’s Office said then.
The prosecutor’s office blocked the transactions, given that these commercial companies are part of the non-resident company Otiv Prime Holding BV, the actual beneficiary of which is Vladimir Plahotniuc, who founded Argus-S in the Republic of Moldova.
