Two people, aged between 35 and 45, are accused in the billion-dollar bank fraud case after the Prosecutor’s Office for Combating Organized Crime completed the criminal investigation, announces the General Prosecutor’s Office.

Prosecutors claim that “the money was stolen by members of the criminal group led by the runawayI lan Shor, as part of the criminal organization led by runaway oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc.”

“The funds obtained were transferred to non-resident companies, with the destination: payments for construction materials, digital equipment, branded clothing or furniture. The goal was to camouflage financial transactions.”

According to the General Prosecutor’s Office, during the years 2011-2014, the defendants from Chișinău – a man and a woman, working as accountants, participated in legalizing the money laundering transactions, which were based on obtaining over 40 of non-performing bank loans, contracted for seven companies, from three banks: Banca de Economii, Banca Socială and, Unibank.

The loans were granted by ignoring the established criteria, the procedures and policies of the commercial banks and the National Bank of Moldova, including by the influence of the leaders of the criminal group on the decision-makers of the mentioned banks.

The two would face up to 5 to 10 years in prison.