The criminal group led by fugitive politician Ilan Shor created a new scheme through which it recruits citizens for subversive purposes. This time, the oligarch decided to conclude employment contracts disguised as volunteer agreements with his “employees” in order to avoid paying taxes. Moreover, the “volunteer contract” that Shor obliges citizens to sign is contrary to multiple provisions of the national legislation. The reporters of Deschide.MD came into possession of a “volunteer contract” signed by Ilan Shor and one of the recruited persons. Although, at first glance, it seems like a legal act, its provisions run counter to those of the Volunteering Law and the Fiscal Code, IPN reports.
The contract analyzed by Deschide.MD is signed by the “host institution”, in the person of Ilan Shor, and a volunteer – also a natural person. This point, from the very beginning, goes against the Volunteering Law, according to which the “host institution” can only be a legal person – not a natural person. At the same time, the contract obliges the volunteers “to fulfill the tasks received from the host institution”, “to obey the management of the host institution with which they concluded the contract” and also “to comply with other obligations arising from the volunteer contract”. And these provisions run counter to the Volunteering Law, which expressly states that the person participates as a volunteer based on freely communicated consent.”
Following discussions with a number of jurists, these drew attention to the fact that the essence of this volunteering is not clear. More specifically, the contract does not expressly describe what the volunteer’s obligations are, mentioning only that they will help carry out social programs, inform citizens about those programs and “mobilize” citizens in order to support social projects. All these activities will be carried out “in a certain field according to their own possibilities and according to the rules existing in the host institution”. This rule goes against Article 5 of the Volunteering Law, which states that this type of contract must “contain the description of the activity that the volunteer must perform”.
The legislation of the Republic of Moldova prohibits the offering of financial or material remuneration to the volunteer, except for “covering the expenses related to the performance of the activity”. More precisely, the volunteer is obliged to justify all the expenses incurred during the activity in order to receive money from the “host institution”. However, the “volunteer contract” developed by the “Shor” group allows providing an amount of 3,000 lei and also “repaying all the debts for 2023”. Thus, the people involved become simple employees of Shor, not volunteers, their activity being taxable.
Another document obtained by Deschide.MD reporters refers to the contracting by an NGO that was recently created by representatives of the “Shor” group in Russia, of Moldovans “who will carry out the set tasks on the territory of the Republic of Moldova”. The organization, NGO “Eurasia”, which the press wrote was behind the initiative with “MIR” cards promised by Moscow to pensioners and public servants from Gagauzia, is led by Nelli Parutenco, one of the persons close to Ilan Shor. Parutenco previously worked as an accountant of the former “Shor” Party and was among the first to leave the Republic of Moldova when the authorities started a criminal case in 2022 for the illegal financing of the above-mentioned party.
According to the employment contract, drawn up by NGO “Eurasia”, the employees are obliged to perform the tasks set by the employer. The employee works for five days a week (Monday-Friday) for four hours a day. For the work performed, they are paid 102,400 Russian rubles/month (about 21,000 lei or around $1,150). The document states that the money will be transferred to a bank account.
Ilan Shor informed about NGO “Eurasia” at the so-called congress of the political bloc “Victoria”, made up of parties affiliated to the oligarch, which was recently held in Moscow. At that time, Shor announced that he will send 50,000 people to the Republic of Moldova this year, who will campaign for the Eurasian Union (an organization led by Russia) and against the referendum on joining the European Union that will take place on October 20. According to him, it will be NGO “Eurasia” that will support him in the implementation of this plan.
The jurists consulted by Deschide.MD drew attention to the fact that the provisions of the employment contract are also contrary to the legislation of the Republic of Moldova. First of all, an economic agent or an organization from Russia or any other state cannot hire a citizen of the Republic of Moldova for activities on the territory of the state without registering a branch in the Republic of Moldova. Thus, in this case it is tax evasion.
At the same time, as in the case of the “volunteer contract”, the employee’s field of activity is not specified – this carries out tasks in the interests of a foreign organization. According to the lawyers, through these schemes, the “Shor” group can pursue the goal of legalizing the money smuggled from Russia for the illegal financing of subversive actions.
