An assistant of the Moldovan oligarch Platon was detained in Kyiv
In Kyiv, police detained a citizen of Moldova named Alexander Balike who is known to have close ties to the Moldovan oligarch Veaceslav Platon, noi.md news outlet reports. Balike was detained for extradition to Moldova where he is being investigated for committing several serious crimes.
The detainee is also a suspect in offences committed in the territory of Ukraine. Ukrainian lawyer Alexei Shevchuk, who is leading a case against Platon stated on his Facebook page that the law enforcement officers would not release Balike even as the court refuses to detain him.
“It has been 72 hours since Balike was detained. He is not in Interpol’s database. He is not on the wanted list in Ukraine. He violated no laws. He crossed the border officially and lives in the country,” Balike’s lawyer stated. According to the lawyer, despite Balike’s seemingly spotless record and presumed innocence, he has been detained in relation to the “outrageous removal” of the Moldovan oligarch Platon out of Ukraine in 2016.
The lawyer alleged that there were no warrants, no passport control, no fingerprints, no translator, and no search warrant because “it’s Ukraine.” He asserted that it is most interesting that even the Shevchenkivskiy District Court refused to detain him the day before because 72 hours had elapsed and police could not substantiate what crime Balike might have committed.
Millionaire Veaceslav Platon was arrested in Ukraine and extradited to Moldova in 2016 so he could face charges of fraud and money laundering.