Investigated in Chisinau for banking frauds and money laundering, the former Moldovan deputy Veaceslav Platon has used in the last 12 years not less than 16 passports: eight Russian, six Moldovan, two of them being diplomatic ones, and two Ukrainian with the name of Vyacheslav Kobalyev.

This results from the documents obtained by the reporters of RISE Moldova, which were following the international travels done by Platon in Ukraine. According to Ukrainian secret services, one of the passports used by the former deputy is fake. Moreover, he did not always use air lines. In 2007, he traveled from Munich (Germany) to Kyiv (Ukraine) at the board of a military plane.

According to the chief of Anti-corruption Prosecutor’s Office, Veaceslav Platon was initially investigated in two penal cases opened in 2015. In the first one, the former deputy is accused of money laundering in huge proportions, and in the second one, of fraud and fortune dispossession. Both cases were connected now in one case. Based on the collected evidence, Moldovan prosecutors have requested the Ukrainian authorities to detain and extradite Platon.

On 25 July 2016 he was detained in Kyiv. Three days later, on 28 July 2016, Ukrainian judges have decided that Veaceslav Platon should be arrested for 40 days. According to Ukrainian secret services, at the moment of arrest Platon had on him a fake Ukrainian passport with the number BH051164, on the name of Vyacheslav Kobalyev.

MOLDOVAN IDENTITY. Diplomatic travels UKRAINIAN IDENTITIES. Fake passport used 40 times

The documents obtained by RISE Moldova shows that Veaceslav Platon used this passport for approximately 40 times. Usually he traveled by plane on the itinerary Kyiv-Moscow-Kyiv.

This passport is fake, according to the Ukrainian security services.

First time, Platon, aka Kobalyev, has used the passport with number BH051164 on 5 November 2007, travelling by plane from Kyiv to Moscow. The last time the former deputy has showed the same passport to border police in Ukraine on 3 July 2012 when he left Kyiv heading to Moscow.

RISE Moldova found out that Veaceslav Platon had another Ukrainian passport with the number AM736215, also on the name of Vyacheslav Kobalyev. With this document he traveled more often and in many countries, including Moldova.

Thus, Platon got officially with the Ukrainian passport AM736215 on 1 November 2005, at the border crossing point in the Odessa airport. He was coming back from Moscow. In the same day he entered Moldova through the Transnistrian region, at the border crossing point Cuciurgan. In Moldova Veaceslav Platon stayed only a day. He got back to Ukraine on 2 November 2005 also through Transnistrian region.

In the period of 2005-2009, the former deputy used this passport tens of times to enter and/or leave Moldova through the Transnistrian segment of the Moldo-Ukrainian border, unchecked by the constitutional authorities in Chisinau.

In the period of 2006-2009, Platon has traveled with the same Ukrainian passport to Moscow (approximately 20 times) and to Turkey, including cities in the west of Europe. Most often, the businessman went to Paris and Antalya. Other destinations were Rhodes, Vienna, Rome, Nice, Zurich, Madrid, Munich.

Usually, Platon was using a regular passenger aircraft, but on 1 July 2007 he went from Munich to Kyiv on the board of a military plane.

The last time Veaceslav Platon has crossed the Ukrainian border with the passport number AM736215, on the name of Vyacheslav Kobalyev, on 14 July 2009.

Gleb Seghida, lawyer of Veacelsav Platon: […] He (Veaceslav Platon) is a Ukrainian citizen starting with 2002. He changed his name because he is on wanted list in Moldova. In his place, I would also have done plastic surgery.

MOLDOVAN IDENTITY. Diplomatic travels

In the period when he was deputy, Veaceslav Platon had owned two diplomatic passports issued by the Chisinau authorities. With the first diplomatic passport, with the number D0002664, has traveled to Ukraine in the period 11 September 2009 – 18 October 2010. Per usual, Platon was traveling to Kyiv through the separatist Transnistrian region, more exactly on the border crossing point Goianul Nou-Platonovo, which is not controlled by the constitutional authorities from Chisinau.

The second diplomatic passport, with number D0003024, was used by Veaceslav Platon to travel to Ukraine in the period 21 December 2010 – 3 October 2011. According to Ukrainian border police data base, on 24 December 2010 he left from Sheremetyevo Airport (Russia) to Kyiv. Five days later, “the diplomat” Platon has left Kyiv to head to Zurich (Switzerland). On 12 January 2011, he came back from the touristic expedition to Kyiv, but from the Swiss city Samedan. On 16 January 2011, Veaceslav Platon had used a private plane in order to go to Chisinau.

Four simple passports in 11 years

Aside from the diplomatic passports, in the period 2004-2015, Moldovan authorities have issued to Veaceslav Platon four simple passports, which he used mostly to travel by plane on the itinerary Moscow-Kyiv-Moscow and to Antalya (Turkey).

In august 2009, even though he was a deputy in the Moldovan Parliament, Platon used the simple passport to go to Nice (France). On 16 august 2009, he left France to head to Kyiv on an air liner. From Kyiv he came back to Moldova with a car of Skoda model, through the Transnistrian region (border crossing point Platonova- Goianul Nou), after he stayed overnight in the Dnipro hotel in the Ukrainian capital.

According to the data base of the Moldovan border police, Veaceslav Platon entered the country for the last time on 8 February 2014. A few days later, he went to the Parliament in Chisinau as a legal representative of the offshore company Volmark Trade Ltd. At that time, Platon was displeased that the National Bank has blocked a group of shareholders of Victoriabank, including Volmark Trade Ltd, because they have acted so to overtake the shares.

Officially, from February 2014, Platon did not leave Moldova. But, according to data from Ukrainian border police, he used a Moldovan passport on 8 November 2014 for the itinerary Riga-Kyiv. With the same document, in April 2015, he also went from Dubai to Kyiv.

RUSSIAN IDENTITY. Eight passports between Moscow and Kyiv

in the period 2004-2014, the Russian authorities have issued to Veaceslav Platon eight passports, used for the itinerary Moscow-Kyiv.

For example, on 29 may 2005, Platon has crossed the Ukrainian border at the border crossing point Goianul Nou-Platonovo with a car of Volkswagen model. He identified himself as a citizen of Russian Federation and declared to Ukrainian customs officers that his visit purpose is private, and at host organization had mentioned NBU, abbreviation similar to the one of the National Bank of Ukraine.

In 2006, Veaceslav Platon went to Paris twice from the Domodedovo airport (Moscow). Each time he chose to pass through Kyiv. First time, on 9 august 2016, Platon left from the Boryspil airport in Kyiv to Paris, where he stayed 11 days. He came back to Kyiv on 20 august, and on 13 September he returned to Moscow. On the next day, on 14 september 2006 he went back to Kyiv and declared to the border police that he is meeting the top-model Snejana Anopko at the Dnipro hotel. The second time, on 16 September 2006, Platon left again to Paris and returned to Kyiv on 25 September. In the customs documents it appears again the name of the Ukrainian model Snejana Anopko.

The Russian passport used by Veaceslav Platon contravenes the official data of the Moldovan border police (which showed that he entered Moldova on 8 February 2014 and afterwards never left the country).

After attending on 12 February 2014 the meeting of the Economy, Budget and Finances Committee of the Moldovan Parliament, where it was discussed the situation in Victoriabank, Platon went to Moscow. More specific, on 25 February 2014, the businessman went from Sheremetyevo airport (Moscow) to Odessa with the Russian passport. He got to Odessa at 16:40, and on the next day he returned to Moscow.