news unrolled

Post: Moldova asks Israel to consider extradition of Shor

Categories

Advertisement Shor. archive photo

Moldova asks Israel to urgently consider extradition of opposition leader Shor

KISINEV, 26 April – RIA Novosti. Moldovan Minister of Justice, Veronica Mihailov-Moraru, said Moldova has requested Israeli authorities to urgently consider the extradition request of opposition Shor party leader Ilan Shor, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Moldovan President Maia Sandu announced on April 13 that judges of the Appeals Chamber had sentenced Shor to 15 years in prison in the case of withdrawing $1 billion from the country’s banks, and his assets would be confiscated. Shor described the judges’ decision as “lawless and unrestricted”, not intending to obey him.

Moldovan Parliament building in Chisinau - RIA Novosti, 1920, 26.04.2023

Property of opposition leader Shor seized in Moldova

“As soon as we learned of the Supreme Court’s decision on the sentence to be imposed, we contacted the Israeli authorities, updated Ilan Shor’s status in this case, and requested that his extradition request be evaluated urgently. We did not receive any response regarding our urgent request. … We are waiting for a response from the Israeli authorities,” he said.

According to him, employees of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office examined precedents and found that there were cases where Israel, despite holding Israeli citizenship, accepted serving a sentence on the territory of another state.

Moldovan authorities have repeatedly discussed with the Israeli leadership the possibility of returning Shor to his homeland. According to the Israeli side, after the final decision is made about the defendants, they will decide whether Shor will be exiled to his homeland or will he serve his sentence in Israel.

Shor is the husband of the famous Russian singer Jasmine. In 2014, it was learned that three banks in Moldova – Banca de Economii, Banca Sociala and Unibank, which own almost a third of the country’s banking assets – withdrew about one billion dollars from the state. In June 2017, he was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison for participating in a bank fraud case, banned from leaving the territory of Moldova. After the February 2019 elections, he became a deputy as the leader of the Shor party, left the country in June of the same year, and then his parliamentary immunity was lifted in August. The prosecution opened three criminal cases in connection with Shor’s illegal departure from the country, he was placed on the international wanted list. In the early parliamentary elections of 2021, Shor was re-elected, although he never returned to the country.

Former MP and one of Moldova’s richest businessmen, Vladimir Plahotniuc, is also accused of bank fraud, along with Shor. Accused in his hometown of money laundering, fraud and illegal enrichment, as well as withdrawing a billion dollars from the country’s banking system, Plahotniuc illegally left Moldova in June 2019. The court in Chisinau has several times issued orders for Plahotniuc’s arrest in absentia, while the Moldovan prosecutor’s office insists on his extradition to his homeland.

Igor Dodon - RIA Novosti, 1920, 24.04.2023

Dodon says Moldova has turned into a ‘banana republic’

Source: Ria

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *