The fugitive and oligarch Vlad Plahotniuc and Ilan Șor were included in the list of sanctions of the United States of America and they were forbidden to enter the USA, and their assets in the States will be seized. The announcement was made by the US ambassador in Chisinau, today, October 26, during a press briefing.
According to the statement of the American diplomat, any property or bank accounts of the two Moldovan fugitives, in the US territory, or of persons close to them, will be confiscated. Likewise, transactions to these persons will be prohibited. It also banned access to people given in the US for political corruption and ties to Russia.
“The two individuals will not be allowed to enter the US territory or obtain entry visas. Vlad Plahotniuc has been banned from entering the US since 2020,” the ambassador announced.
Later, the president of the country, Maia Sandu, came with a post on her Facebook page, where she also announced about this.
“The big corruption and illegal financing of political parties in the Republic of Moldova can, however, be sanctioned! The USA has designated 21 persons and entities involved in acts of corruption, which have caused serious damage to the Republic of Moldova and its citizens. The Office for Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Treasury found that Vlad Plahotniuc is responsible for corruption in particularly large proportions. It was included in the Global Magnitsky Act sanctions list. American authorities have confirmed that Vlad Plahotniuc captured and corrupted the judicial and rule of law institutions of the Republic of Moldova. Plahotniuc used the money from corruption and influenced the politician to eliminate political rivals and to subordinate the judiciary in the country,” the head of state’s post reads.
FOR THE MOST IMPORTANT NEWS, FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK!
At the same time, Sandu states that OFAC found that Ilan Șor, who is also among the beneficiaries of the theft of the billion, is complicit in the actions to undermine the rule of law, for the benefit of the Russian Federation.
“Sor, together with other corrupt oligarchs and with the involvement of foreign entities, undertakes actions to destabilize the political situation in the Republic of Moldova. Supported by the mentioned entities, Șor undertook efforts to undermine the process of the Republic of Moldova obtaining the status of a candidate country for the EU. As a result of this decision, all property and assets owned by the Designated Persons are frozen and must be reported to OFAC. I thank all those who contributed to the sanctioning of the corrupt. The Minister of Justice, Sergiu Litvinenco, colleagues from the Ministry of Justice, other public institutions, civil society organizations and investigative journalists who contributed to this process – thanks to you, the Republic of Moldova will succeed in the fight against corruption. I express my hope that these findings of OFAC and the measures taken by the US Government will serve as an example for the judiciary in the Republic of Moldova, which sabotaged and procrastinated the criminal prosecution, the examination of the court cases, the prosecution for corruption and the recovery of the money from Plahotniuc, Shor and the other corrupt people”, concludes Sandu.
According to the documents adopted by the USA, among the people close to the “big heads of corruption” in our country are: Shara Şor, the wife of Ilan Şor, a close friend of Igor Dodon, the son of the prosecutor of the Russian Federation Igor Ceaika, Olga Grak, Leonid Gonin, Ivan Zavarotnîi, etc.