An Oligarch who allegedly masterminded a massive money laundering scheme that saw billions in Russian money pour into Europe and the USA has been arrested in the UK.
Former Moldovan MP Veaceslav Platon was arrested on Thursday in central London in connection with the ‘Laundromat’ operation that is said to have moved vast sums of criminal cash through the country’s banking system with the help of corrupt judges.
Beneficiaries of the funds – believed to be at least £16 billion but reportedly as high as £65 billion – have allegedly invested the laundered money in businesses and high-end property in London and other cities in wealthy nations, as well as splashing out on luxury goods.
In 2012, a photo of Platon’s now ex-wife, Elina Cobaleva, was posted on social media showing her posing in dark glasses on the bonnet of one of two brand new Bentleys bought for £216,000 by Valemont Properties, a British firm caught up in the financial scam.
Platon, 52, appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court in London on Friday for an extradition hearing. He was remanded into custody and will appear there again this Friday.
The General Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Moldova announced his arrest in a Facebook post that said it was ‘in contact with the British authorities to organise appropriate procedures, in view of presenting the citizen to the legal authorities in our country’.
Veronica Dragalin, who stepped down last month as head of Moldova’s Anti-Corruption Prosecution Office, added in her own post: ‘This significant step has been made possible thanks to the efforts of anti-corruption prosecutors – those who have worked for years on the Laundromat file and others, those who have travelled to the UK over the past two years for meetings with UK authorities.’
The complicated scam is said to have been run by criminals with links to the Kremlin and successor organisations to the KGB.
In 2012, a photo of Platon’s now ex-wife, Elina Cobaleva, was posted on social media showing her posing in dark glasses on the bonnet of one of two brand new Bentleys
Former Moldovan MP Veaceslav Platon was arrested on Thursday in central London
It took advantage of lax rules – since tightened up – that allowed companies to be set up and fronted by ‘nominee’ directors paid for lending their names, allowing criminals to operate quietly behind the scenes.
Laundromat allegedly used 21 ‘ghost’ companies, mostly based in the UK, and involved bogus trades and loans.
A Russian with dirty money would set up one firm, use it to provide a loan to a ‘ghost’ company without actually exchanging funds, and then demand repayment through courts in Moldova, where the judiciary and financial authorities were less likely to scrutinise transactions.
Once a Moldovan judge had ‘authenticated’ the debt and ruled it must be paid back, the money would be transferred out of Russia to a Moldovan bank and then to one in Latvia – another former Soviet Union member – which, crucially, was inside the EU. The funds could then be moved anywhere in the world with few questions asked.
Much of the money flowed into London with its buoyant property market, luxury shops and well-regarded private schools.
Business purchases in London are said to have included a historic building worth £200 million, a central car park and a hotel apartment. Other investments were flats in Manchester and land in Essex.
Platon – said to be one of the wealthiest people in Moldova with business interests in sugar and banking, as well as investments in atomic energy in Ukraine – was an MP in his home country from 2009-10.
He was arrested in Kiev in 2016 and extradited to Moldova where he was jailed for 18 years in 2017 for money laundering and fraud involving £770 million, labelled locally as the ‘theft of the century’.
Platon was arrested in Kiev in 2016 and extradited to Moldova where he was jailed for 18 years in 2017 – but his conviction was overturned in 2021
He was controversially released and then acquitted in June 2021 following a retrial, moving to the UK the following month where he claimed political asylum. Months later, Moldovan prosecutors charged him with the fraud and forgery charges he currently faces.
In March 2022, an anonymous submission to an inquiry into Russian dirty money in the UK by the Foreign Affairs Committee stated he was ‘considered one of the masterminds of the ‘Laundromat’ scheme’.
Platin is also reportedly wanted in Russia, where he also has citizenship, for illegally withdrawing hundreds of millions of pounds of funds.
In 2023, a Moscow court convicted him in his absence for these offences and sentenced him to 20 years in prison.
A National Crime Agency spokesman said: ‘Veaceslav Platon was arrested on 13 March in the Tower Hamlets area of London by specialist National Extradition Officers from the NCA’s Joint International Crime Centre.
‘He appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on March 14 and was remanded into custody until his next appearance on Friday (Mar 21).’
The arrest warrant stated that ‘between January 1, 2010, and December 31, 2014, in the Republic of Moldova, Veaceslav Platon conspired with others to conceal, disguise, convert and transfer criminal property’.
