Yesterday, a fugitive Moldovan oligarch and opposition party leader, currently living in Israel, had his sentenced doubled, in absentia, to 15 years for his role in nicking $1bn from one of Moldova’s banks when he was Chair of it. According to the Associated Press, that’s the equivalent of one eighth of Moldova’s GDP. Ilan Shor was charged in 2014 for siphoning money out of Moldova between 2012-2014 through dubious loans, asset swaps and shareholder deals. Balkan Insight refer to it as the ‘Grand Theft’ and Reuters call it the ‘theft of the century’. The Court of Appeal in Moldova’s capital, Chișinău, also ordered the confiscation of around $290 million of his assets: figures differ depending on who’s reporting it; according to Reuters yesterday, it’s $277 million. Either way, at 36 years of age, that’s a lot of assets for someone so young.
Shor is a businessman born in Israel, where he has resided since he nipped off secretly in 2019 during his 8 year appeal. Not only has he now lost it, but the sentence is worse. Moldova cannot automatically enforce execution of the sentence as Shor holds Israeli citizenship and there is no extradition treaty with Israel. He leads and funds the populist, Russia friendly Shor Party (his name), which in recent months stands accused of organising large protests in Chișinău that called for the resignation of the pro-Western government headed by Maia Sandu. In December, Shor was sanctioned by the US for working with corrupt oligarchs and Moscow to create political unrest and undermine Moldova’s efforts to join the EU. The UK joined the US in sanctions and now six Romanian MEPs have submitted a letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs for EU member states, (Sweden currently hold the rotating Presidency), asking that the EU also participate. Any decision to do so will require agreement from all 27 EU countries. Travel bans will also come under that.
Yesterday, Thursday 13th April, a trilateral security conference was held in Bucharest, Romania; during which close neighbours Romania, Ukraine, and Moldova signed Cooperation Agreements to strengthen security in their Black Sea region. NATO already has an ‘Enhanced Forward Presence’ in Romania to counter threats posed by Russian aggression.
Shor was not alone in his dubious enterprise. Also under sanction is former Moldovan politician and Chairman of the Democratic Party of Moldova: Vladimir Plahotniuc, said to have been a powerhouse Moldovan politics and extremely influential. Vladimir Plahotniuc left Moldova in June 2019, after the party he led, PDM, handed over the government to a coalition formed by the ACUM Bloc and PSRM, which broke up in November 2019. His current whereabouts are unknown, although he is rumoured to be living in Turkey or Northern Cyprus.
Former Moldovan Prime Minster Vlad Filat was also associated with the theft and various other corrupt activities. He spent four years of a nine year sentence in prison after Ilan Shor denounced him. Plahotniuc, Shor’s partner in crime, was Filat’s arch political rival. According to Radio Moldova in January, Filat and members of his Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova (PLMD), are preparing for the general local elections this autumn.
Speaking from his no doubt luxurious exile in Israel, Shor posted on Facebook that the ruling will have no impact on him as ‘it will be rescinded two days after the current regime is replaced’. Certainly not if Filat has anything to do with it. There’s a little video of it here and it has an option to translate what he is saying. In it he says that Moldova should remain neutral and not become part of NATO. He also refers to Maia Sandu as ‘Maia Hitler’.
https://www.facebook.com/ilanshorofficial
Sources:
‘Moldovan Oligarch Sentenced to 15 years’: AP News Article printed in The Washington Post, 14.4.23:
On UK sanctions of the Moldovan Oligarchs in December 2022:
AP News on the Black Sea Security Conference, 13.4.23:
On the foiled Moldovan protest earlier this year, Associated Press, 12.3.23:
https://apnews.com/article/moldova-protests-russia-unrest-plot-24b55d877401cf3d2122c21fe17ef1da
Balkan Insight have also covered the story, 14.4.23:
https://balkaninsight.com/2023/04/14/moldova-sentences-fugitive-oligarch-to-jail-and-seizes-assets/
‘Oligarchs in Cross Hairs for EU Sanctions’, EU Observer, 13.4.23:
A copy of the letter by the 6 Romanian MEP’s to the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the EU Member States, Swedish Presidency of the EU Council, is embedded within the article.
https://euobserver.com/world/156917
‘Moldovan Opposition Leader gets 15 years for huge bank theft’, Reuters, 13.4.23:
Radio Moldova on the possibility of former PM, Vlad Filat, returning to politics, 31.1.23:
https://radiomoldova.md/p/4980/vladimir-filat-getting-ready-for-general-local-elections
Featured Image from Der Spiegel:
Filat, Israel, moldova, NATO, Shor
You might also like
-
War Games and Economic Ties: Are Russia and China cosying up to annoy Trump?
September 13, 2018 -
International welcome for ‘North Macedonia’ – but domestic problems
June 13, 2018 -
Fruitless Years Rowing Over Macedonia – but an end in sight?
February 12, 2018
