{"id":447896,"date":"2020-01-13T20:50:20","date_gmt":"2020-01-13T20:50:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/?p=447896"},"modified":"2020-01-14T19:52:02","modified_gmt":"2020-01-14T19:52:02","slug":"the-u-s-department-of-state-vladimir-plahotniuc-and-his-family-members-are-ineligible-for-visas-to-the-united-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/the-u-s-department-of-state-vladimir-plahotniuc-and-his-family-members-are-ineligible-for-visas-to-the-united-states\/","title":{"rendered":"The U.S. Department of State: Vladimir Plahotniuc and his family members are ineligible for visas to the United States"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

Vladimir Plahotniuc, his wife and two children have been banned from entering the United States<\/span><\/strong> because of “significant corruption actions”<\/em> involving the former democratic leader from Moldova, according to the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.<\/p>\n

The press statement<\/a> issued by the Office of Spokesperson of the U.S Department of State as following:<\/p>\n

“Today, I am designating former Moldovan official and oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc due to his involvement in significant corruption. \u00a0In his official capacity, Plahotniuc was involved in corrupt acts that undermined the rule of law and severely compromised the independence of democratic institutions in Moldova.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

This designation is made under Section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2020 (Div.\u00a0G, P.L. 116-94).\u00a0\u00a0Under Section 7031(c), once the Secretary of State designates officials of foreign governments for their involvement, directly or indirectly, in significant corruption, those individuals and their immediate family members are ineligible for visas to the United States.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The law also requires the Secretary of State to either publicly or privately designate or identify such officials and their immediate family members.\u00a0 In addition to Plahotniuc, I am designating his wife, Oxana Childescu; his son, Timofei Plahotniuc; and his minor child.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Today\u2019s action sends a strong signal the United States does not tolerate corruption and stands with the people of Moldova in their fight against it.\u00a0The Department will continue to use these authorities to promote accountability for corrupt actors in this region and globally.”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Along with the former leader of the Democratic Party of Moldova, in the list of ineligible persons for receiving visas published by the US State Department are also found other politicians of the world, accused of corruption crimes, but also several politico-military organisations in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo<\/strong> posted earlier\u00a0 a message on his Twitter account, stating that the United States of America supports Moldova in the fight against corruption and condemns the corrupt actions of Vladimir Plahotniuc, who has been declared<\/a> internationally wanted on October 28, 2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Vladimir Plahotniuc's corrupt actions undermined the rule of law and severely compromised the independence of democratic institutions in #Moldova<\/a>. Today, I publicly designate him. The U.S. stands with Moldova in its fight against corruption.<\/p>\n

— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) January 13, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n