Moldovan bank fraud scandal

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 director of Moldova's National Anti-Corruption Centre, Iulian Rusu, announced on Monday evening the seizure of oligarch Ilan Shor's assets in the country.

"The seizures applied by the Criminal Assets Recovery Agency reached the amount of 1.5 billion lei [about 75 million euros]. These are properties from Moldova," Rusu told TV8.

Moldova's pro-EU government amended the law on company ownership on Wednesday to end offshore secrecy and enforce maximum transparency about companies operating in or from Moldova.

The Moldovan government and its British counterpart agreed on Tuesday that illicit funds confiscated by the British courts from Luca Filat, the son of former Moldovan Prime Minister Vlad Filat, will be returned to Moldova.

Anti-graft prosecutors in Moldova on Wednesday interrogated Vladimir Novosadiuc, director of Sputnik Moldova, a news agency affiliated to the Kremlin, over a notorious money-laundering scheme.

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.

The European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs, AFET, on Tuesday adopted a highly critical resolution on Moldova, saying it has been "captured by oligarchic interests" and adding that the EU should no longer aid the country at least until after next year's elections.

A group of opposition deputies has drafted new legislation to combat money-laundering after the parliamentary majority voted last Thursday to pass a fiscal reform package which has sparked criticism, particularly from Moldova's Western partners and donors, for loopholes that could allow the legalisation of criminally-acquired funds.

The European Parliament has voted to cut off financial aid to Moldova for breaking democratic standards by cancelling elections in the Moldovan capital.

The centre-right grouping in the parliament, the European Popular Party, EPP, introduced the resolution on Thursday.

The National Bank of Moldova on Thursday published a detailed summary of the second investigative report by US company Kroll and Steptoe & Johnson, which backs prosecution claims that the banker and mayor of the town of Orhei Ilan Shor was behind the huge bank fraud that rocked the country in 2014.