The Moldovan prosecutor’s office believes that the wanted politician Ilan Shor, through intermediaries, tried to both openly and secretly illegally finance a number of political parties in order to ensure the protection of his interests after the elections in the country, the head of the Moldovan Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office Veronica Dragalin said on Thursday.
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Earlier on Thursday, the prosecutor’s office reported that it had conducted 20 searches in four localities of Moldova in the homes of the chairman of the Revival party, Natalia Paraschi, and other members of the political formation in the case of illegal financing of the political formation. As a result of the searches, documents, information media and funds were confiscated, and one person was detained. Also on Thursday, parliament approved the request of the prosecutor’s office and stripped Alexander Nesterovsky and Irina Lozovan, members of the Revival party, of parliamentary immunity.
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“After the Shor party was outlawed, Ilan Shor and his organized crime group put forward a plan to support other political parties openly and from the shadows in order to have as many candidates as possible in local elections this fall, and then gain support and win seats in parliament in order to have influence in the form of deputies acting in the interests of Shor himself,” Dragalin said.
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She indicated that the prosecutor’s office had been conducting the investigation in secret for the past four months, during which time prosecutors were focused on collecting evidence, having been able to obtain statements from individuals who met with Shor in Israel, gaining access to his correspondence in applications, as well as wiretapping telephone conversations persons close to him in Moldova.
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Dragalin said that, according to investigators, Nesterovsky, together with Shor, participated in the recruitment of a person who headed one of the political parties. According to her, it was documented how Nesterovski handed over 50 thousand dollars and 100 thousand lei to a former deputy who was supposed to create a political party to carry out Shor’s instructions. “There is reason to believe that Nesterovsky accepted money from Shor and agreed to a salary of 5 thousand dollars a month in order to create a new parliamentary faction in parliament… There is also evidence that deputy Lozovan tried to bribe the mayor of Ocnita,” she added.
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The Revival Party regularly holds pickets at government departments, representative offices of countries and EU organizations to draw attention to problems within the country. In July, the political force launched a collection of signatures to recognize the ruling Action and Solidarity Party (PAS) as unconstitutional. At the end of August, the political formation also announced the launch of the process of collecting signatures for the republic to join the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).
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On June 19, the Constitutional Court of Moldova decided to recognize the Shor party as unconstitutional. According to the same decision, the party is considered dissolved, and the Ministry of Justice of the Republic is instructed to create a commission to liquidate it and exclude it from the state register. The deputies representing the party will remain in parliament, but will be considered independent, without the right to join other political forces. Moldovan politician Ilan Shor said that in response to the authorities banning the Shor party, he is creating a new political formation – the SHOR bloc (Chance. Responsibilities. Implementation). He also called on opposition parties in the republic to become part of this political platform.
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Local elections in Moldova are scheduled for November 5; residents of the country will elect local leaders. At the same time, presidential elections will be held in the country in 2024, and parliamentary elections in 2025.
