Moldova’s most notorious fugitive businessman, Vladimir Plahotniuc, has been extradited from Greece to face trial over the country’s biggest financial scandal, AFP and local media reported.

The 59-year-old oligarch, accused of orchestrating the disappearance of $1bn from Moldovan banks in 2014, arrived in Chisinau on Thursday under tight security. The fraud, known locally as the “theft of the century,” amounted to about 12 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) at the time.

Plahotniuc was detained in July at Athens airport on an Interpol red notice while attempting to travel to Dubai, Greek authorities said. He had been held in Greece for two months before being handed over to Moldovan officials.

Once considered the most powerful figure in the Democratic Party of Moldova,

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