Ex-Moldova PM sentenced to 9 years for graft

A court in ex-Soviet Moldova today sentenced former prime minister Vlad Filat to nine years in jail for corruption and abuse of office.
Filat was dramatically arrested in parliament last October over allegations that included he had taken bribes worth some USD 260 million as part of a broader scandal that saw a billion dollars vanish.
Filat has denied the charges and even gone on hunger strike to protest his detention.
Supporters argue he is being used as a scapegoat by Moldova's murky political elite.
"During this unprecedented case not one piece of evidence was put forward that proved my client's guilt," his lawyer Igor Popa said. The verdict can be appealed.

Filat, who served as premier from 2009 to 2013, is facing another three legal cases over the scandal.

In April 2015 the Central Bank of Moldova discovered that three banks had granted loans worth USD 1 billion, equivalent to around 10 percent of the country's GDP, to unidentified beneficiaries.
The disappearance of the money sparked a wave of indignation in the country of 3.5 million and a protracted political crisis that has seen mass street protests and government turmoil.
A tiny nation wedged between Ukraine and Romania, Moldova is often seen in terms of a tug-of-war between Russia and the West.

It inked an historic EU association agreement in 2014 despite bitter opposition from Moscow, its former master.
But the scandal saw nominally pro-Western and pro-Russian forces from the right and left temporarily put aside their differences to challenge a ruling elite they accuse of using pro-European rhetoric to cover up graft.