Ilan Șor was convicted of especially serious crimes and the protection of a convicted fugitive affects the image of Israel, said the director of the National Anticorruption Center Iulian Rusu. According to him, the Israeli authorities will decide in favor of the extradition of the politician. Even if Israel protects its citizens, in order to show openness in the cooperation with other jurisdictions, Șor will be extradited, IPN reports.
Fugitive MP Ilan Șor was sentenced to 15 years in jail in the bank fraud case. By the same judgment, the Chisinau Appeals Court banned him from holding posts in the banking system for a period of five years and ordered to collect 5.2 billion lei from him. The director of the National Anticorruption Center said the state institutions cooperate between them so as to confiscate the property of the convicted politician.
“In the case of the conviction of Ilan Șor, we have a definitive decision. The sum is of 5.2 billion lei. It is in the interest of Banca de Economii, but Banca de Economii received the guarantees from the Government and the Government received these funds from the National Bank. In other words, we all act in the public interest. The sequestrated assets include parts of share capitals of enterprises, vehicles, buildings, liquidity. The confiscation decisions are to be executed. We need to coordinate our efforts with the Tax Service. If additional assets are identified outside the country, we will work with the Ministry of Justice as there will be a component of international legal assistance already,” Iulian Rusu stated in the program “Reflection Points” on Vocea Basarabiei channel.
Under the court’s decision, Ilan Șor must serve time in a maximum security prison and Iulian Rusu considers the Israeli authorities will accept the Moldovan Ministry of Justice’s request to extradite the fugitive MP to Moldova for this to serve his sentence here.
“The crimes of which he was accused and convicted are exceptionally serious as they affect the whole society extensively. Israel has complex legislation that protects the own citizens, but there are particularities. The country’s image is affected when a fugitive convict is protected. I think that in order to protect the country’s image and to show readiness to cooperate with other jurisdictions, the authorities in Israel will ultimately take an extradition decision,” said the NAC chief.
Recently, Minister of Justice Veronica Mihailov-Moraru said that the Moldovan authorities asked Israel to examine the request to extradite Ilan Șor as a matter of urgency. The official noted the option that Ilan Șor will serve time in Israel as the fugitive MP holds Israeli nationality cannot be excluded.
