France to Seize Villa Owned by Moldovan Politician Charged in $1B Corruption Scandal

French authorities have been given the greenlight to seize a villa owned by Vladimir Plahotniuc, a former top Moldovan politician who is on the run from corruption charges stemming from his alleged role in a billion-dollar banking scandal.

Plahotniuc, the former leader of the Democratic Party of Moldova, fled the country amid a power shift in June 2019. He has since been implicated in a scandal dubbed the “Theft of the Century,” which saw $1 billion stolen from three national banks between 2012 and 2014, plunging the country into economic crisis.  

Moldovan prosecutors accuse Plahotniuc of receiving tens of millions of the stolen funds, and have sought international assistance in tracking down his assets. 

A March 19 ruling from France’s highest court of appeal authorized the seizure of a waterfront property belonging to Plahotniuc in Sciez, a town on Lake Geneva. 

An earlier ruling — issued last year — stated that Plahotniuc had bought the villa in 2018 for about $3.4 million and transferred it to a Cypriot shell company called Sigmateli Limited. 

“The purpose of the transfer of the Sciez building to Sigmateli Limited is to avoid a seizure of assets, as Mr. Plahotniuc is the true owner and user of the property,” according to the 2024 ruling.

Sigmateli appealed against that decision, arguing that it no longer had ties to Plahotniuc because its management had changed in 2020.

However, the Cour de Cassation, France’s Supreme Court, has now rejected that argument, and ordered the seizure of Plahotniuc's property. The new ruling, dated March 19, was obtained by the Swiss investigative news site Gotham City and shared with OCCRP. 

Spinosi, the French law firm that represented Sigmateli, declined to comment. Plahotniuc’s Moldovan lawyer did not respond to a request for comment. 

Plahotniuc was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2022 for allegedly bribing Moldovan law enforcement, and using his influence over the justice system to target rivals and manipulate elections. 

At home, he has been charged with fraud, money laundering, and creating and leading a criminal organization. The case is being examined at Moldova’s court of first instance. 

Plahotniuc’s whereabouts, however, are unknown.

An Interpol Red Notice states that he holds Romanian, Moldovan, Russian, and Mexican passports. OCCRP has discovered that his Mexican document is fraudulent. 

Copies of Plahotniuc’s Mexican passport — which were published by Moldovan media after being leaked by police — show Plahotniuc’s photo alongside a fake name.

Reporters entered the personal information from the passport into a website run by the Mexican government, which contains the Clave Única de Registro de Población, an ID code for all citizens and residents. The information from Plahotniuc’s passport did not turn up a match.

"I confirm that the passport is fictitious," a spokesperson for Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told OCCRP.

According to Moldova’s anti-corruption prosecutors, Plahotniuc allegedly owns at least two other properties in France, including a traditional alpine chalet in the town Combloux. Sitting on 21 acres of land with a panoramic view of Mont Blanc, the chalet boasts six bedrooms plus a library, gym, sauna, wine cellar, and garage for eight vehicles.

Although the French properties were officially registered under the names of legal entities, Moldovan prosecutors determined they belonged to the Plahotniuc family. Searches of the homes, conducted with local authorities, turned up personal belongings, including family photos.

Across the border, Swiss courts have also been collaborating with Moldova. 

In August 2024, Switzerland’s Federal Court rejected an appeal by a property company registered under Plahotniuc’s wife to unfreeze a home on the Swiss side of Lake Geneva worth about $32 million. The house was purchased in 2012 with what Swiss authorities say are embezzled funds, and it has been frozen — meaning it cannot be sold — since August 2024.

Plahotniuc is among more than a dozen suspects charged for their alleged involvement with Moldova’s Theft of the Century scandal.

According to prosecutors, a total of $2.9 billion was loaned to “related parties” of owners of Moldovan banks, who then redirected the funds through two Latvian accounts. While some of the money was later returned to Moldova, nearly $1 billion was never recovered. 

Additional reporting by Kyriakos Pieridis (CIReN).