Investprivatbank, a banking institution involved in financial scandals and previously controlled by Veaceslav Platon and Sorin Ovidiu Vantu, is set to be removed from the State Register of Legal Entities. The decision was officially made by the Executive Committee of the National Bank of Moldova on June 19 of this year, exactly 16 years after the bank’s license was revoked and liquidation procedures were initiated. This information was reported by IPN, citing mold-street.com.
According to the decision of the BNM, the liquidation process of Investprivatbank has been completed, and the balance sheet shows that the institution’s assets were insufficient to cover all creditors’ claims. Consequently, these claims are considered extinguished, and the BNM and the liquidator no longer have obligations related to the liquidation.
The bank lost its license in the summer of 2009, after authorities found serious irregularities in its operations. According to the BNM, Investprivatbank provided erroneous data regarding its capital, did not meet liquidity requirements, and did not honor its obligations to customers. At that time, the bank’s debts exceeded 275 million lei.
Investprivatbank was founded in 1994, and among its first significant shareholders was Veaceslav Platon, currently held by British authorities for extradition to the Republic of Moldova. In 2008, through an additional share issue, control over the bank was taken over by six companies affiliated with the Romanian businessman Sorin Ovidiu Vantu, who was later convicted in Romania for economic crimes.
The looting of Investprivatbank and the mismanagement of assets generated huge losses, partially recovered from the state budget. According to mold-street.com, the repayment of deposits by the population was made possible from the account of the Savings Bank, thereby contributing to the aggravation of its situation and, implicitly, to the onset of the banking crisis, which culminated in the process known as the “billion-dollar theft”.
The official reports indicate that the process of recovering Investprivatbank’s assets has been slow and inefficient. So far, the state has only managed to recover a small part of the bank’s historical debts, and at the beginning of 2025, these exceeded 340 million lei.
Banking experts believe that the lack of firm measures and legislative reforms following the bankruptcy of Investprivatbank has contributed to the vulnerability of the national financial system, creating the conditions for the large-scale frauds that followed.
According to experts, the dissolution of Investprivatbank officially marks the end of one of the oldest and most controversial banking stories in Moldova, but it remains a testament to the gaps in financial supervision and the costs that society pays as a result of wrong political and managerial decisions.