{"id":5995,"date":"2020-12-29T14:38:00","date_gmt":"2020-12-29T12:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zdg.md\/en\/?p=5995"},"modified":"2020-12-29T14:53:00","modified_gmt":"2020-12-29T12:53:00","slug":"billion-dollar-bank-fraud-testimonies-every-month-he-gave-me-100-to-be-always-available-on-the-phone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zdg.md\/en\/billion-dollar-bank-fraud-testimonies-every-month-he-gave-me-100-to-be-always-available-on-the-phone\/","title":{"rendered":"Billion-dollar Bank Fraud Testimonies: \u201cEvery Month He Gave Me $100 To Be Always Available on the Phone.\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Three managers of the companies investigated in the billion-dollar bank fraud case made statements for the first time about their involvement. They revealed the way the companies obtained millions of dollars under credit agreements causing over 550 million dollars damage to Banca de Economii, Banca Sociala, and Unibank.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The administrators of the three companies that appear in the Kroll report told the judges that they knew nothing about the scheme in which they were involved and that they were paid $100 a month to sign documents. The Caritas Group, Provolirom, and Dracard companies’ representatives declared that \u201cI didn’t know what I was signing\u201d, \u201cI don’t know how many contracts I signed\u201d or \u201cI don’t know what the amounts were.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Diana GA\u021aCAN<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the summer of 2020, the prosecutors detained the presumed beneficiaries of three companies through which hundreds of millions of dollars were withdrawn from the three banks involved in the bank fraud. They testified in court in a review case in which controversial businessman Veaceslav Platon had previously been sentenced, irrevocably, to 18 years in prison. Platon allegedly obtained, through illegal schemes, about 1 billion lei (around 200 million euros) from Banca de Economii, following some loans granted for companies run by a third party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI probably found out that I am the director of this company on the internet.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2015, tracking the billion owners, ZdG tried to contact Andrei Nirau\u021ba, the manager of Caritas Group, one of the companies affiliated to deputy Ilan Shor, through which money was withdrawn from bankrupt banks. The company had its headquarters in the center of Chi\u0219in\u0103u but its owner, Andrei Nirau\u021ba, never showed up there. Also in 2015, ZdG managed to talk to Andrei Nirau\u021ba’s father, who said that his son had drug problems. Five years later, after a court hearing in Veaceslav Platon’s review case, ZdG managed to talk to Andrei Nirau\u021ba. He told us that he did not know that the company he ran even had an office. Moreover, Nirau\u021ba stated that he did not know what he was involved in 2014 and that he found out later that through him large loans were taken from banks: \u201cAs I remember, I read about Caritas Group on the internet and found out that I am the director of this company<\/em>.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the court hearing while reviewing Platon’s case, Andrei Nirau\u021ba reported that in 2014 he met a certain Alexandru Boiarschi who made him sign several documents. He was not aware what documents he had signed, which, in fact, were credit agreements. Nirau\u021ba declared that he was an active drug user at the time, this is one of the reasons that he does not remember things clearly. Andrei Nirau\u021ba specified that Alexandru Boiarschi offered him the job, which consisted of being \u201calways available on the phone\u201d and signing some documents. He was paid $100 a month for it.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBoiarschi would telephone me and I would go with him somewhere and sign some documents. Nobody explained to me what I was signing. I didn’t even see what I was signing. I would go to the office and they would tell me where to put my signature. I didn’t know who I worked for,\u201d <\/em>Nirau\u021ba declared in court.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI didn’t even know about loans, I didn’t know anything.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n