The former leader of the Democratic Party, Vladimir Plahotniuc, has confirmed that he will testify as a witness in the case known as “kuliok” (black bag – ed.), in which the former president of the Republic of Moldova, Igor Dodon, is accused of passive corruption and accepting illegal party funding.
Plahotniuc confirmed on Monday, December 15, his intention to testify while participating in a new court hearing in the bank fraud case. He also stated that he will attend all court hearings where witnesses will be heard.
The hearing of Vladimir Plahotniuc, as well as his former associate Serghei Iaralov, was requested by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, which indicated them as prosecution witnesses in the “kuliok” case. The request was made during meetings held in December 2025 at the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ).
The two appear in the video recording that forms the basis of the case, in which Igor Dodon is handed a bag that prosecutors claim would have contained between 600 thousand and one million dollars, money intended, according to the accusation, for the financing of the Socialist Party.
Igor Dodon has consistently rejected the allegations and stated that the images would have been tampered with, while Vladimir Plahotniuc has so far avoided specifying what amount would have been in the bag offered to the former head of state.
The case prosecutor, Petru Iarmaliuc, explained that the law allows the hearing of a person as a witness even if they have the status of a suspect in another criminal case, with their consent.
However, Igor Dodon’s lawyers argue that the case would have been initiated in the absence of sufficient evidence and accuse the prosecutors of passing the responsibility of hearing witnesses to the court.
The “kuliok” case, restarted from scratch
On November 24, the Supreme Court of Justice ordered the restart of the trial from the beginning, after the repeated change of the panel of judges. The head of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, Marcel Dumbravan, explained to Teleradio-Moldova that the restart was necessary following the appointment of Judge Ion Malanciuc to the Constitutional Court, his place being taken by Vladislav Gribincea.
The criminal case was initiated in 2020 and sent to trial in 2022. Prosecutors claim that Igor Dodon would have demanded almost one million dollars from Vladimir Plahotniuc and Serghei Iaralov, in exchange for negotiating favorable political conditions for a possible PDM-PSRM coalition, in June 2019, when Dodon was president.
In parallel, Vladimir Plahotniuc is on trial in the case concerning bank fraud (“the billion theft”).
Prosecutors accuse him of creating and leading a criminal organization, fraud, and money laundering, claiming that he would have benefited from over 39.28 million dollars and 3.5 million euros stolen from Banca de Economii, Unibank, and Banca Sociala. The money would have been used for purchases of goods, charter flights, investments, and payment of services.
Plahotniuc pleads not guilty and insists that only the hearing of the defense’s proposed witnesses can clarify the situation.
The defense submitted a list of 164 witnesses, and the case prosecutor, Alexandru Cernei, specified that the court will decide which of these will be heard, depending on the relevance of their statements. Some of the proposed persons are themselves accused or suspects in other cases of bank fraud.
In this case, the former politician risks between 8 and 15 years of imprisonment. Since his return to the Republic of Moldova, Plahotniuc has missed several hearings, citing health problems or the large volume of case materials, which exceeds 100 volumes.