During a interview offered to the portal TRIBUNA, the First Vice President of PDM, Vlad Plahotniuc spoke about elections, Veaceslav Platon’s accusations, arrest of the judges and other actual topics.

T: PDM entered very vigorous in pre-campaign, you have a very good visual campaign. It is vital to win the Presidential elections?  

V.P.: PDM is one of the most important parties from Moldova, it is the Party with the best display in the field, so it is normal that we mobilize in the electoral campaign and we want to achieve the best result.

At the same time, we can not declare that for PDM it is vital to have the function of the President of the Republic of Moldova, this approach is not correct. In any case, the Party will stay strong and will govern. But it is vital that this function will not get to other people that have no project for Moldovans, people who want to gain this function only to provoke chaos and instability in this country, people that are in fact the represents of some mob groups or promoters of occult interests from outside of the country.

In the campaign we will prove what is the project and vision of Marian Lupu for Moldova, we will prove that we are the only ones that truly can solve the problems of Moldovans. We enter in the campaign to offer a good President, but also to inform the citizens about our political vision.

T: What are the chances of Marian Lupu to accede in the second tour?

V.P.: High chances, if we consider the last two opinion polls that we made. The tendencies are very good, and we are all working like Marian Lupu not only to accede in the second tour, but also to do it with a high score and after that to win.

T: What exactly are showing the opinion polls and why you are not publishing them?

V.P.: They are showing more clearly that the people is not willing any more to believe in false heroes and created over night or over summer parties, they are showing that the people is sick to assist at accusations and wars, they are showing more important things that we will take into consideration. PDM is making periodical public polls, not only on the eve of elections, but they are working surveys, we do not publish them because we do not want to influence people in any way. The fact is that sociological data mobilize us and makes us confident in victory.

T: Will Marian Lupu have the active support of the Prime-Minister Filip in the campaign, he will have support and from its colleagues from Government? 

V.P.: Our Party has the most united and liable political team. But I think that the best support that our Party colleagues from Government can offer to our nominee is not to be involved institutionally in the campaign, but to work actively at the Government, to work there, to work for people and to obtain results. This is already enough for our people to see that PDM team is professional and efficient, and this thing is certainly will bring, indirectly, positive results to Marian Lupu as well in the electoral campaign. For the Government it is important now to sign the agreement with IMF and the general cleaning which, along with other institutions they must do in the banking sector, but not in the electoral campaign.       

T: Is the force actions from the last period helping the PDM nominee? I refer to those resonance cases and arrest of the judges…

V.P.: Somebody told me I the past days that what is happening lately is reminding him of the 2001-2002 years, when it was made that cleaning by arresting those thieves in law who were terrorizing Moldova back in that days. However, in my opinion, the situation is different now because now we do not have no thieves in law, but sophisticated criminal groups, financed with big amount of money, inclusively from outside of the country, but there are also some similarities with that moment.

As a matter of fact, if a cleaning in the justice is made, or in other sectors, in the first place this helps a lot the country, no matter who is doing this. The important thing is to clean this up, these actions to be managed professionally and objectively, not to be limiting themselves only to one zone, but to tackle head-on and on a large scale the whole phenomenon of corruption.

T: Some say that the arrest of the judges could not be made without your approval. Did you approve it?  

V.P.: I approve now in advance and for further actions of this kind, even if I do not know who they are. If good things like this depend on my approval than I give my approval to make order in the country.

If there are some who are waiting for my approval, I hope they read very attentive this interview and to get to work right away, either it is about cleaning in the customs sector, in the health one or others.

And in order to finally get out of these speculations, I tell you definitely that, until I have influence through my position, I will manifest it active in supporting of reforms, inclusively in the justice sector, there were my political support or PDM support.

I have involved myself until now, starting with the initiation of the new Government, when along with my coalition partners, we supported actively all that came from the Government and from the negotiation team with IMF. There were registered positive results and we won’t stop here, there will be started and other complicated reforms of big social service.

T: What will happen with all this plans if there will be another President beside PDM’s nominee?

V.P.: We will realize them anyhow, they do not depend on who is the President, and they depend by the political will of the Parliament and by the support that will have the Government. But o think everyone understands politically and mathematically, and at the attitude level, that the only one from the candidates that can ensure stability, peace and an efficient collaboration between state institutions, President, Government and Parliament after the elections, is Marian Lupu.    

T: But if there will be anticipated elections, as some candidates are announcing

V.P.: Those candidates who are threatening that will launch anticipated elections should take the Constitution, because they are going in the electoral race without knowing the fundamental law and they will make a fool of themselves. The story of anticipated elections is only a cheap demagogy to trick the people, as they did with the protests. They brought them to the protests only to create a Party on the back and emotions of the people, and now they want to become Presidents through a new trick towards Moldovans.

T: Did the protests scare you?

V.P.: The protests have two important signals. The most important one is because of some problems from society, especially social ones that the government took over.

Some of them, as you know, they solved, others they still must solve in the near future and they will solve them, inclusively through some harsh reforms that we are going to launch, others in the immediate future, because there are people that cannot wait until after the elections, as is the banking sector and its full stabilization.

On the other side the protest revealed to all some interconnected that were acting with very obvious methods of organized criminality, they being constitute of shady people, politicians, officials and employees of some interest circles from outside of the country.

Slowly, all of them were disclosed. For instance, before one of these groups to take over the DA Platform, they did not know of some links between its members and leaders, they did not know a lot of data about their methods of action and the provenience of the illegal funds that they are using. 

Thanks to the protests that they organized we could find out a lot about them, those from the shadows revealed themselves and this allowed us to avoid a bigger escalation of the situation and a thoroughness political crisis of the country. More than that, this will allow us to be more prepared and more decided of our combat measures if the attempts to destabilize the situation in the country.

T: Who leads these groups? 

V.P.: Not necessary only one person, it’s an entity much more complicated. Those groups are lead by the dirty interests of the top members, it is about the Topa clan, the Platon group, the tiny group of Renato Usatai, who took under them some parties, journalists, and state employees, and introduced their own people in the rows of the civil society to have succseful and credible as more as possible, inclusively in the diplomatic zone.

But all these are now visible and I think that in the period to come the will be more undisputed. What I consider truly dangerous is that they are capable to make worse the Moldova’s image outside of the country, poisoning the international media with false information and extremely dangerous for the country. 

T: Why you did not spoke about these groups and its links earlier? 

V.P.: Let’s not pretend that we are naive, I am not telling you now no news, all that I am telling you at this moment is seen very clearly for a long time. I am not the first one who flags these ugly events. 

T: From where do you know all this, from the notebook that is speaking that was found when he was arrested?

V.P.: No, I know from the press. More precisely, from the press.  

T: How from the press?

V.P.: When you want to understand better who and with whom he is tied and what he is planning, you only need to read the news from different sites, to make an effort and to read between the lines for a little bit and you already know the hidden agenda of the group that I am was talking about.  

 T: Why you don’t give the names of the journalists or media institutions that are doing this?

V.P.: I do not want to ruin their work, they are doing a great job and their products are useful in a way. If they would not write, we would not know so much. 

T: Then I will give a name – Veaceslav Platon. He says that you arrested him. How do you comment his accusation?

V.P.: All those who were arrested are saying the same story already. In the moment someone is arrested, in that moment my name is tagged. This is also a message and a signal that if we analyze it beyond their victimization campaign, you will discover useful information.

The situation with Platon is complicated and the concern on his case is very big from those who have participated with him at all his illegalities, as in Moldova, as outside of the country, but also of those who were behind him. Because it is already obvious that Platon did not manage its own money, he did not have such money, he was only the guy with the schemes of laundering of the money, he was the one who placed the money and funding various illegal actions.   

He and his whole group is attacking me, hopping that I will be intimidated, and I will do all to help him, and in return, they will not accuse us. I of course will not crack under their psychological pressures, they can accuse me further of all they can came up for. The justice must do their work, to do it objectively and fair, and the damage brought to the state to be recovered, the thieves and the corrupted ones to stay in prison.

What I am doing now, is, that together with the colleagues from the coalition to support the Government and other responsible institutions to approve laws for enforcing the banking system and measures for cleaning it, that in the case if other Platon appear, they could not do all this schlock that they did. I assure you that we will solve this problem in the immediate future.

T: Why this has not been done in advance, we would have avoided so many serious situations?

V.P.: Because the parties were busy with the political battles, fights of arrogance, fights with imaginary enemies and outbreak of different crises. It is easy to manipulate the public opinion and to turn it against an unreal enemy, only in order to cover your thefts. This is what some of them have been doing lately and look in what stressed and difficult situations we are.

However, the time doesn’t forgive, sooner or later, the people realize that were tricked, and at that time you suffer twice, you loose completely their support, they don’t believe you anymore, and then you also pay for the thefts that you covered under this staged fights.

On the short term, maybe this approach brought someone benefits, new parties were created on the confrontation’s background, new heroes and heroines appeared, political stars, but on the long term the effect is disastrous for them, when the population is going to find out that was lain, will put these heroes on their place, as the parties built on the basis of confrontation and scandal.

I understand very well the mistakes that we made, PDM, I personally, by the way I handled these virulent attacks upon us, and we suffered from prejudices to the image, I suffered politically, but it's important that we learn from our mistakes and now we have another approach, which gives positive results.

T: How the coalitions did not function until now and now they function, what are you doing?

V.P.: Multiple disruptive factors have disappeared, like the desperate fights for posts, arrogance, the destructive competition between parties inside the coalition. The government acts silently, minds its own business and doesn’t interfere with the politics only when needs the support of the Parliament.

T: Speaking about posts, are you going to Prime Minister after the elections, as I have read somewhere?

V.P.: It seems that you have read the web-sites I was telling you earlier, right? Try to see what intentions have those behind such news and you will have the answers.

I do not intend to go into any post, a priority for me now is to support the government to implement the reforms agreed with the IMF and other emergencies to streamline the institutions and another goal of mine is about reforming PDM and preparing for the elections in 2018. As announced above, PDM will go through an extensive process of modernization, which will get it closer to people. These objectives are important and demanding enough to leave no room for other occupations and posts.

If I understood a thing from the past six years experience is that it is time for parties to look and behave as voters want, not politicians. Classical parties of all real democracies must understand and reform in this respect, because otherwise we leave room for extremists, fools in the leading and opportunists to make tests on citizens for their anarchic experiments.

T: What is your relationship with Igor Dodon? It is rumoured to be your candidate.

V.P.: Not only about him this is said, I saw that the newest news is about Maia Sandu who is also my candidate. All of them are mine and I support them. With this statement I think I halved the rating of some of them.

Joking aside, what some malevolent people did not understand yet is that the battle with the Plahotniuc myth is not anymore what it was, soon will be more and more people who will understand what this fight was really about. This is why those who made PR and parties based on this war with my name are very afraid. Because it was a war with my name, not with me.

For them these elections are the last chance, because if they lose the election now, go into anonymity, people will forget them. These people understand that every achievement of the Government and external appreciation of the government destroys step by step the myth created in connection with PDM and me. These people know what potential I have, they know what potential has the team of PDM and understand that if we stay in power for a sufficient period of time, we have the ability to do good things for people and gain confidence, but this means the end of these cardboard heroes, the end of the political clowns and parties they have created by myths. Under slogans like "I am not afraid" is actually hiding a terrible fear that the current government might succeed to bring welfare and order for Moldovans. Here is the key where should be interpreted someone's desperation, and all sorts of gossip and speculation.

T: Who owns Gofman?

V.P.: Platon and the leaders of Platon. He was the key man in all the money launderings made in Moldova. He ran to USA and tried to play the dissident in order to victimize himself and hide the implication in the laundering of that 20 billions of US dollars, but I think that is already clear to all the people what is with him and to whom he belongs.

T: He presented documents showing that he informed the management about the situation at BEM.

V.P.: Such documents even you can make, they do not have any relevance, it is important how he acted, and how he acted is seen, is known.

T: Is Shor your man? Do you protect him, do you use him?

V.P.: Shor, like all others involved, must answer for what he did. In this case also my name is invoked by those who have done business with him, they used it, and now are upset that he gave depositions on them and label him as that is my man to discredit him and get rid of responsibility.

For my part, they can finger each other every day and night, to say what they want, it's important to learn the truth and all of them to answer for their deeds and, of course, to recover all the money back. Nobody should receive clemency or protection.

T: What statements made Andrei Nastase in the U.S. concerning the BEM investigation and at what institutions? Because he does not want to offer details. You must know.

V.P.: What kind of details? That he flew to the U.S. and testified at McDonald’s? Let’s be serious: this guy hasn’t yet overcome the stage of a clown: you see him wandering as an insane man from country to country and nobody wants to meet him, don’t you? I cannot answer you more seriously. Let him wander on about fast food restaurants in the U.S. and Europe.

T: What is your opinion about Maia Sandu? How the government will work with her if she becomes President? Especially, since she attacks you and PDM very often.

 V.P.: I do not have an opinion, I know her just when she was part of the two governments with us. Nor in the first government, nor in the second, she had no problem to become minister with the votes from PDM and even with my vote. Strangely, all her public critics to our address appeared after PLDM did not choose her as Minister. Only then she left the government and made her own party.

Maybe she needed the attacks over me in order to create and enlarge her party, and I do not see any problem here, I told you that there are some parties that were built like this. They do not have any political project, do not show any vision, are fighting only with imaginary enemies and their leaders act as saints or martyrs. However, we had these kind of saints and martyrs…

I do not think that is the case to analyze too much how she could collaborate with the government, because I think that “Topa” will take care to withdraw her from the elections or to bring her at a score as low as possible.

T: Will we have fair elections? There are already accusations from opposition that the elections could be rigged.

V.P.: The signals and speculation you speak about belong to some who saw the survey where Marian Lupu and PDM party have registered a significant increase, the tendency confirmed by our sociological data. The idea is that there are some candidates who understand that Marian Lupu  will enter the second round and through these fraud allegations they are preparing the justification of their fail. Just because we know these positive trends related to the development of our candidate, we are most interested in the elections to be fair and transparent.

So we understand their strategy and we will do everything necessary for the elections to be maximum transparent and will insist on a high number of foreign observers, as there was at no election, even if this will mean large amount of money spending, but it is important that elections in Moldova are strictly monitored by external partners

Their victimization strategy will not succeed, nor the challenges that we already know they are preparing for election day. This is the only thing they can do, they are not capable of a political project for the presidential candidate, their only electoral weapon is whining on TV, because they have nothing to suggest, nothing depends on them, they know they can't give people something other than words. But I think the candidates' words in this campaign will count least.

T: Why don’t you appear more often in the public, you said that you will communicate more often with the people?

V.P.: Better than me no one can deliver to the people my message, so I communicate directly with them, through my actions and direct interactions. Sometimes I make it through media. However, I am not in a hurry, I do not need daily appearances in the press to appear about me, I did not propose to myself to change like this my image. I know that time will solve very well and my image issue, this process has already began, so I do not have any reasons to force these things. However I like to talk to people through my projects and the actions I make, I allow myself to follow this path, because I am not dependent of any post, I do not need to lie to the people to vote me, I do not candidate to anything, from this point of view I have a freedom that I cherish very much.

T: It is a long interview and there are many questions left, I propose you to continue this interview in the near period.

V.P.: I do not promise that it will be very soon, I think that an interview per month is enough, I answered with pleasure when there are more topics, but I do not want to give any interview just to be present in the media.

T: Thank you for your answers.

V.P.: I thank you too.

 

Source: Tribuna