Chisinau Court of Appeal

Fugitive and convicted Moldovan oligarch Ilan Shor announced on Monday the creation of a new political bloc to replace the Shor Party he previously led but which was recently declared unconstitutional by Moldova's Constitutional Court judges and outlawed.

The Chisinau Court of Appeal ruled in a decision issued on Monday evening that fugitive Moldovan oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc must stand trial in his absence in the 'Grand Theft' case of $1 billion from the Moldovan banking system between 2012 and 2014.

Local elections in Moldova's pro-Russian autonomous region of Gagauzia were won on Sunday by the Ilan Shor Party's candidate, Evghenia Gutul, according to results published by the Electoral Commission in Comrat, the central administrative city in the region.

The Chisinau Court of Appeal sentenced fugitive oligarch Ilan Shor to 15 years in prison in absentia for his key role in the so-called "Grand Theft" of one billion US dollars from Moldovan banking between 2012 and 2014.

The fugitive Moldovan tycoon Vladimir Plahotniuc, who is now in the US, has filed a lawsuit against the US State Department and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo after being banned from the US on January 13 "due to his involvement in significant corruption".