July 2015: Ilan Shor wins the mayoral elections in Orhei. СС Churban, Wikimedia Commons.Ilan Shor, 29, is one of Molodva’s most famous businessmen. Married to Russian pop singer Jasmin, he is an up-and-coming figure in Moldovan politics. But Shor recently spent the first, and probably the last, anniversary of his tenure as mayor of the town of Orhei in pre-trial detention at the National Anti-Corruption Centre.
Shor is accused of participating in “the heist of the century” — he was the head of the administrative council of Moldova’s Banca de Economii (BEM) when, during the autumn of 2014, a number of suspicious transactions resulted in a billion dollars being transferred out of Moldova via BEM. After a report on these machinations was published in May 2015, the businessman was placed under house arrest for 30 days on suspicion of “abuse of office”.
Lying low in Orhei
Shor’s involvement in the “heist of the century” has been confirmed by US financial investigators Kroll, who were contracted by the National Bank of Moldova to investigate fraud in BEM, Banca Sociala, and Unibank. Kroll investigators found out that the so-called “Shor group” was involved in buying up stock in the three banks in 2012-2014 and in giving out un-returnable loans.
