European Interest

Moldovan opposition calls on Romania to help investigate ‘grand theft’

“For four years, since the bank fraud was discovered, the Chisinau authorities have not recovered any of the money,” Maia Sandu said.

Romania should help investigate the “grand theft” of a billion US dollars from Moldova’s banking system between 2011 and 2014. So said the leader of opposition Action and Solidarity Party in Moldova, Maia Sandu.

Sandu said Moldova had failed to recover the funds, so outside help was needed. “For four years, since the bank fraud was discovered, the Chisinau authorities have not recovered any of the money,” she told a conference organized by the Black Sea University Foundation.

According to the case, the leader of the pro-Russian Shor Party, Ilan Shor, was accused of masterminding the brazen heist and sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison in June 2017.

As reported by Balkan Insight online, Shor has remained effectively at liberty, under house arrest, and recently obtained the necessary integrity documents to run for a seat in parliament in the coming elections from the Central Electoral Commission.

“According to international investigative companies, at least $15.8m of the ‘grand heist’ went to Romania,” Sandu said.

Meanwhile, Sandu and the leader of the Dignity and Truth Platform Party, Andrei Nastase, recently discussed the unfairness of the campaign for the parliamentary elections scheduled on February 24.

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