UK bans 2 Moldovan oligarchs accused of corruption

Two Moldovan oligarchs allegedly involved in a billion-dollar bank fraud and other illegal schemes have been added to a new UK sanctions list, Britain’s foreign secretary said on Friday.

Both Ilan Shor and Vladimir Plahotniuc fled Moldova in 2019 after facing a series of corruption charges. They were among 30 people admitted by Britain on Friday, Foreign Secretary James said in a scathing statement.

Moldovan authorities accuse the two of being involved in a $1 billion bank robbery from a Moldovan bank in 2014. At the time, this amount was equal to one-eighth of the annual GDP of one of the poorest countries in Europe.

Moldovan Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita praised Britain’s decision, saying “the circle around corrupt people and thieves in the country is closing.”

“We are committed to ensuring that all conditions are met for corrupt politicians to be prosecuted,” he told a news conference, adding that “European values ​​and standards must become a reality, not a distant dream.”

Shor is an Israeli-born businessman – where he has been in exile since 2019. He also leads the populist pro-Russia Shore party, which has staged major protests against the pro-Western government in the Moldovan capital Chisinau in recent months.

Shor was accused in 2014 of taking bribes to gain his position as president of a Moldovan bank, and was recently named on the US State Department sanctions list for working for Russian interests and undermining Moldova’s bid to join the European Union.

In June, Moldova — a former Soviet republic of 2.6 million people sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine — was granted EU candidate status.

The other sanctioned oligarch, Plahotniuc, is a powerful businessman and former politician accused of “capturing and corrupting Moldova’s state institutions.”

In June 2019, Blahotniuc fled Moldova to the United States after failing to form a government with his Democratic Party. In 2020, the US declared him persona non grata and his whereabouts are now unknown to authorities. It is also on the US sanctions list recently.

“Plahotniuc’s bribery of law enforcement reflects his longstanding efforts to capture and corrupt Moldova’s judicial and law enforcement agencies,” the State Department said at the time.

Moldovan President Mia Sandu thanked her country’s external partners on Friday for “supporting our fight against corruption that has affected our state and citizens.”

Moldova has taken a distinctly Western path over the past year, and officials are pushing to root out corruption and reform the judiciary. It ranks 105 out of 180 countries in Transparency International’s 2021 Corruption Perceptions Index.

Britain said on Friday it would freeze all assets owned by Shore or Blahotniuk in Britain or its overseas territories. British nationals are banned from having economic dealings with couples who are “no longer refused entry to the UK”.

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McGrath reports from Chișinău, Romania.