This is a company residing in the British Virgin Islands, a notorious tax paradise, which Moldovan prosecutors describe as a beneficiary of the 2012-2014 financial fraud in Moldova. Three banks - Banca de Economii, Banca Sociala and Unibank were used to extract around one billion dollars into offshore jurisdictions.
Between October 2012 and June 2015, Rowallan Overseas was under the direct control of oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc. To be accurate, Mr. Plahotniuc retained the right to the signature, which was later passed to intermediaries from his close circle.
The international audit company Kroll, which was hired to investigate the fraud, said in a report for the Moldovan Government that during the period this company was under Plahotniuc’s control, it had received half a million dollars as the money got sucked out of the three banks.
Rowallan Overseas is also suspected of fictive deals with Metalferos, a state-controlled monopoly in the scrap metals market in Moldova. According to prosecutors, Metalferos was engaged in the trade with front companies, which in turn had made fake deals with foreign firms. The damage was assessed at 133 million lei, and a part of this money landed onto Rowallan Overseas’ accounts.
RISE Moldova revealed in September 2020 that the international education of the daughter of Marian Lupu, a politician who succeeded Vladimir Plahotniuc at the rule of the Moldovan Democratic Party, had been paid with money from Rowallan Overseas. Mr. Lupu defended himself by arguing that in 2014 he did not have an account for international transfers, therefore he brought the cash to the party’s headquarters and asked a buddy to make the payment. His party fellow Constantin Botnari too benefited from the coverage of education expenses for his offspring by Rowallan Overseas.
The same company paid the honorariums for three foreign singers who performed live at a night club of Vladimir Plahotniuc in Chisinau - Eva Simmons, Chris Willis, and Oyudo Anthony Ikenne.
