The head of the Ștefan-Vodă local office of the Shor political party, which was declared unconstitutional in June 2023, will be tried for complicity in the illegal financing of the party. According to prosecutors, the woman contributed to the organization of protests in Chisinau, mobilizing and remunerating hundreds of people for participation, using ill-gotten financial resources, IPN reports.
The criminal case was started two years ago for the illegal financing of the political party by an organized criminal group and this year it was detached into a separate case. According to the administered evidence, between July and October 2022, the defendant was responsible for coordinating the activities of the local organization of the Shor party in Ștefan Vodă district. She knowingly accepted illegal financing for the party from an organized criminal group led by Ilan Shor, who is wanted.
The woman used over 2.3 million lei to support the party’s activities and promote the party’s interests on the political arena.
The defendant acted in collaboration with various people. Staff of the party’s monitoring and control departments, deputy heads, treasurers, couriers and organizers in charge of the transportation of protest participants were also involved. Each had a distinct role in ensuring the operation of the illegal network, from mobilizing participants and transporting them to transferring funds and remunerating protesters.
“In order to hide the source of financing, the information was communicated through encrypted channels, on Telegram. The measures were taken in order to hide the involvement of the organized criminal group and facilitate the continuation of the party’s illegal activities,” reads a press release from the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office.
The defendant did not admit the committed deeds and the criminal case was sent for examination on the merits to the Buiucani Court of the Chisinau City.
For the committed crime, the woman faces a fine of 57,500 to 92,500 lei or 2 to 7 years in prison, in both cases with ban on holding particular positions or carrying out particular activities for a period of 2 to 5 years.
