Moldova Seeks Arrest of Convicted Oligarch Ilan Shor

Moldovan law-enforcement authorities have issued a national arrest warrant for Ilan Shor, the alleged mastermind behind the "grand theft" of one billion US dollars from the Moldovan banking system in 2014, who is believed to have left the country in mid-July.

It comes after the Court of Appeal in Cahul authorized the request of the Anti-Graft Prosecutors Office for a national arrest warrant to be issued. If he is not found, as seems likely, an international arrest warrant will be filed, authorities have said.

Moldovan media reported that Shor left the country on a private plane from Chisinau International Airport immediately after the fall of the former Democratic Party government led by Pavel Filip. It has since been replaced by a new government uniting pro-EU and pro-Russian forces under Prime Minister Maia Sandu.

On Friday, in a video posted on his Facebook page, Shor said he and his family were in hiding for security reasons, and that the pro-Russian President of Moldova, Igor Dodon, and the new government led by Sandu were exerting political pressure on his case.

He also said that he would soon reveal a lot of damaging information about the business activities of President Dodon. He did not specify where he was.

Although restrictions already placed on him should have prevented him from leaving the country, Shor did so anyway. A prosecution investigation said he illegally crossed the state border without passing customs and border controls.

Border police sources told BIRN that both Shor and former Democratic Party leader Vlad Plahotniuc left via a special runway at Chisinau Airport over which there are no border controls or even security cameras. They said it had been left like that on purpose for years by the former ruling...