Shor’s majority in the Orhei Municipal Council intends to approve, at today’s meeting, the initiation of a number of illegal agreements with “Promsvyazbank” – a Russian banking institution under international sanctions which is affiliated with the Russian Ministry of Defense and also with the Russian nongovernmental organization “Eurasia” – so as to implement a new money laundering scheme. More specifically, Shor’s satellite party, the “Alternative and Salvation Force of Moldova” (FASM), which holds a majority of seats on the council, wants to attract funds from Russia in order to provide so-called “financial aid” to pensioners in the municipality through “MIR” cards, IPN reports, with reference to Deschide.MD.
In the case of “Promsvyazbank”, the agreement envisions the provision of banking services, cooperation and exchange of information on various topics. As for “Eurasia”, it is an organization created in Russia by Shor’s people, whose purpose is to thwart the European path of the Republic of Moldova. The authorities in Orhei intend to cooperate in the following areas: exchange of experience and information; development and implementation of joint programs; establishment of joint working groups; conducting monitoring, surveys, research; organizing meetings, conferences, seminars.
Through these agreements, the “Shor” group claims that it will offer by 2,000 lei/month to pensioners in the municipality of Orhei, for “philanthropic and sponsorship” purposes. The money will be allocated by “Eurasia” through “Promsvyazbank”, according to a scheme similar to the one implemented in Gagauzia.
In order to legalize their actions, the representatives of Shor’s FASM refer to the provisions of the Law on Local Public Administration, according to which the local authorities can cooperate with economic agents and public associations abroad in order to carry out actions or works of common interest. However, “actions of common interest” involve the performance of activities by both parties, and the abovementioned agreements do not describe in any way the actions that pensioners or local authorities in Orhei will have to carry out in exchange for financial aid.
At the same time, the Law on Philanthropy and Sponsorship expressly says who the beneficiaries of philanthropic and sponsorship activities are. Thus, these can be noncommercial organizations; public institutions (medical-sanitary, social assistance, education); first and second level local public administration authorities; social enterprises; social insertion enterprises; religious cults and their component parts, Deschide.MD specified.
In this regard, the pensioners to whom the “Shor” group intends to offer money cannot benefit from these “philanthropic” activities. At the same time, these funds come from Ilan Shor, who recently announced that he will send 50,000 Moldovans to Moldova through “Eurasia” to agitate in favor of the Eurasian Union (an organization led by Russia) and against the referendum on integration into the European Union, which will take place on October 20. In this respect, the use of these financial sources before the electoral period aims to undermine the democratic and electoral processes in the Republic of Moldova.
“More precisely, this “aids” can be used for the illegal financing of political parties, the corruption of candidates and voters. Such cases were also witnessed in the 2023 general local elections, when Ilan Shor, through the citizen of the Russian Federation and Israel, Igal Shved, drew up a “sponsorship contract” to transfer from Kazakhstan to the Republic of Moldova about 5 million lei for the illegal financing of the candidates of the “Chance” party – another satellite party behind which there is the fugitive oligarch,” wrote Deschide.MD.
As the bank through which the transfers of funds are organized (Promsvyazbank) is subject to international sanctions, and “Eurasia” cannot prove the origin of the money transferred, the acceptance of financial funds can be classed as a criminal offense, namely “money laundering”. Thus, the persons can be held accountable for acquiring, holding or using goods that constitute illegal income, but also for participating in association, understanding, complicity in order to commit the crime of “money laundering|. For such actions, citizens risk a fine of 2,350 to 4,350 conventional units (117,500 – 217,500 lei) or up to 6 years in jail.
