Fugitive deputy Ilan Shor, chairman of the “Shor” party, sentenced in 2017 to seven years and six months in prison for fraud and money laundering and put on international wanted list, must publicly admit that he lied and distributed false information about Moldovan President Maia Sandu. Moreover, he must pay the head of state 50,000 lei in damages after the Supreme Court of Justice put a stop to a case involving Shor’s distribution of false information about Sandu.

On 6 and 7 June 2018, Ilan Shor posted on his Facebook page information, in Romanian and Russian, that Maia Sandu had received money in envelopes from Vlad Filat, and that the money in the envelopes had come from Ilan Shor, and that prior to the Government’s consideration of the issue of granting the second instalment for the 3 banks, Sandu had discussed the matter with someone at a location known to her, Ilan Shor and that person.

“Dear Maia! First of all, I understand your hatred towards Marina, who is young, beautiful and has achieved results in tennis. (…) You have to understand: I know how much Filat paid you in an envelope every month, as a salary surplus. And I was the one who put the money in the envelope, before he sent it to you,” Ilan Shor wrote in 2018 on a social network.

In July 2018, Maia Sandu took Ilan Șor to court, demanding the denial of the information and the payment of moral damages in the amount of 200 thousand lei and court costs incurred for the payment of the state tax in the amount of 6,100 lei.

On January 21, 2021, the Chisinau Court, Center seat, ordered Ilan Shor to “publicly deny the false information that Maia Sandu received money in an envelope and pay her compensation in the amount of 50 000 lei”. The court ruled that Șor must publish the following texts on his Facebook page:

“I, Ilan Shor, declare that I lied when I made on my facebook page on June 6, 2018 the statement that Maia Sandu took money in an envelope from Vlad Filat. This statement does not correspond to the truth”.

“I, Ilan Shor declare that I lied when I made on June 7, 2018 on my facebook page the statement that Maia Sandu, before the Government examined the issue of granting the second installment for the three banks that were robbed, had discussed this subject with someone known to me. This statement does not correspond to the truth”.

Shortly after the court’s decision, Ilan Shor said he would appeal the decision in higher courts and suggested to the President of Moldova “not to rejoice before her time”.

Subsequently, Ilan Shor appealed the first instance decision to the Chisinau Court of Appeal, requesting “the annulment of the contested decision and the issuance of a new decision dismissing the action”.

On 7 July 2022, the judges of the Chisinau Court of Appeal (CA) rejected the appeal filed by the fugitive MP.

However, his lawyers appealed the decision, but by a decision of the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) of 22 February 2023 the appeal was declared inadmissible. Ilan Shor is thus obliged to publicly apologise to Moldovan President Maia Sandu for “lying and defamation” and to pay her moral damages of 50 thousand lei.