Moldova’s Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office and the National Anticorruption Center carried out 21 searches between September 16 and 17, related to the Bank Fraud Case. On September 16, deputies from the Shor faction, Marina Tauber and Reghina Apostolova were detained.

According to the Anti-corruption Prosecutor’s Office, the searches were carried out at the homes and offices of several persons involved in the criminal case, including the aforementioned deputies. 

“Currently, the information on the objects found and collected at the searched locations is generalized. Except for the deputies Tauber and Apostolova, no [other] people were detained,” Cristina Bogonos, spokeswoman for the Prosecutor’s Office, told ZdG.

The Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office said that searches were carried out at Vladimir Novosadiuc’s home, the Moldova Director of the Russian news portal Sputnik.

Novosadiuc and his partner, Rita Țvic, were both listed in the Kroll report among the beneficiaries of the banking scheme. 

In 2014, $1 billion disappeared from three Moldovan banks (Unibank, Banca de Economii, and Banca Socială). Two Kroll reports were issued by the U.S. Kroll company in 2015 and 2017. In June 2019, the Parliament set up a Committee to investigate the bank fraud. 

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According to the document, Rita Ţvik, and Vladimir Novasadiuc were both shareholders at Unibank, who borrowed around 614,537 euros (12 million lei) from Harrogate Consulting LLP. Moreover, the press reported that in 2014, the two mediated the takeover of Euro TV and Alt TV by Ilan Shor.
Diana Gaţcan, gatcan.diana@gmail.com