Ilan Shor proved to the Russians that he is useful, and Moscow redirected the financial flows from the Socialists to the parties affiliated to the Shor group, expert of the Watchdog community Rodica Pîrgari stated in a public debate hosted by IPN News Agency. According to her, the Shor group has a very well-developed voter corruption network and efficient communication tools.
Rodica Pîrgari explained that there is indisputable evidence of the fact that Ilan Shor corrupts voters in the Republic of Moldova, thus influencing the electoral processes in the country. Sunday’s election, the Bashkan election in Gagauzia and the 2023 local elections are eloquent examples of influence on the outcome of elections by bribing citizens.
“I have seen evidence presented by the police, audio recordings showing how Shor's local organizations communicate. I want to emphasize the investigation conducted by “Ziarul de Garda”, which showed a small example of how exactly voter corruption works. The investigation provides concrete evidence with names, documents, videos. This is what the police should actually do. It’s a pity that the person could not stay in the network until the end so that we could see where those votes go. If we talk about the proportion of the phenomenon, we have seen what happened at the local elections, when Shor made some unknown people mayors. The opponents were taken out of the race and anonymous persons became mayors overnight. Can you imagine what communication networks they have, what resources they have and how efficient they are? First, it goes to corruption. Then it goes to effective communication with the distribution of the message,” said the expert of Watchdog community.
Rodica Pîrgari noted that Ilan Shor appeared on the political arena of the Republic of Moldova as a philanthropic politician who offers people financial support. He initially used his father's name through Miron Shor foundation to promote his image.
"We also have the example of Gagauzia, when an anonymous person became a Bashkan overnight. If the police had not intervened in Balti, Balti would have been controlled by Shor as well. It is good that evidence showing there that there was corruption in the local elections was found. Shor became popular in Orhei also through corruption. When he was elected mayor of Orhei, his father’s good reputation still helped him. In addition, there was also his football club and the people perceived him as a patron, that is, as a man who helps. We should not forget about the popular "buckwheat with tushonka". This is how Ilan Shor became known as the “Shor phenomenon" of voter corruption,” explained Rodica Pîrgari.
The Watchdog expert said that Russia is trying to influence the processes in the Republic of Moldova using the Shor group as an intermediary. Initially, Moscow relied on the Party of Socialists to promote its rhetoric, but after Ilan Shor proved his usefulness, the PSRM was replaced by the parties of the Shor group.
"The law enforcement agencies told us that in September alone, the Russian Federation pumped here, through Shor, US$15 million. There is an enormous amount. The transactions were performed through the Russian bank Promsvyazbank. These are bodies of a foreign state, which have become involved over the years, including in financing parties. We remember the case concerning the financing of the Party of Socialists. Now this funding continues for Shor because Shor demonstrated tangible results to the Russians. He showed them that he is useful to them. In addition to Mir cards, we also saw cash that was physically brought by people who regularly traveled to Moscow,” stated the expert.
The public debate entitled “What is the “Shor phenomenon" based on?" was the 316th installment of IPN’s project "Developing political culture through public debates”. The project is implemented with support from the German Hanns Seidel Foundation.
