His critics say he's a secretive oligarch who pulls all the strings in a country caught between Europe and Russia. His supporters say he's a just a successful businessman-turned-politician with his country's best interests at heart. But who is the man whom many know as Moldova's Puppet Master? And what lies behind murky allegations of blackmail, hitmen and a billion-dollar bank fraud? In advance of Moldova's recent general election, we sent filmmakers Glenn Ellis and Viktoryia Kolchyna to find out.

Welcome to True Crime: Unravelled, the show in which Criminologist Honor Doro Townshend and Host Yinka Bokinni dive right into the heart of some of the biggest true crime stories. In this episode we discuss the 2018 murder of Sam Mechelewski, who was killed by his friends when they became jealous of his success as a cannabis dealer. If you need support with the topics covered, please see our help and advice page: https://channel4.com/4viewers/help-support Watch more from 24 Hours in Police Custody, the landmark documentary series that captures real-life drama at its most intense, following police detectives around the clock as they investigate major crimes, here 👉 https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiC_gpE7y051cnB1ckaz3Z0oxSMVRsG7J #24HoursInPoliceCustody #TrueCrime #RealCrime #Documentary SUBSCRIBE: https://bit.ly/2IzNJyi About #4Docs: Welcome to Channel 4 Documentaries. Here you’ll find cutting-edge factual content from our award-winning 24 Hours in A&E to Dispatches and provocative and empowering original true stories. We pride ourselves on landmark, ground-breaking stories which reflect the diverse experiences and challenges we're all facing across the length and breadth of the UK (and beyond). Watch the Unravelled playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiC_gpE7y050VqtPCgHAMhORqSWqhZiL0 Watch the True Crime playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiC_gpE7y051qpKtiQg7wOCN3BjgLP3wt Watch the 24 Hours in Police Custody playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiC_gpE7y051cnB1ckaz3Z0oxSMVRsG7J Watch the Murder Island playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiC_gpE7y052hA-6y_Rx7jDf1QV-i5zd2 📺 👉Stream on #Channel4: https://bit.ly/3ufmZsY