Fugitive oligarch Ilan Shor, sentenced to 15 years in prison for bank fraudone billion dollars from the Republic of Moldova, asked to declare the representative of the European Union in Chisinau, Ambassador Janis Majeiks, persona non grata on the territory of the country. In a scathing response, the diplomat called on Ilan Shor to return to Moldova, because here “he can spend the next 15 years without changing his place of residence,” reports News.ro.

Ilan Shor, who is evading execution by hiding — at least until recently — in Israel, of which he is a citizen, was troubled by the European diplomat’s reference to his team and that of a pro-Russian party. “Chance”, which he finances, is qualified as an “organized criminal group”.

• “I wonder what forces forced EU Ambassador Janis Mazheiks to throw mud at Moldovan politicians. He decided to interfere in the internal affairs of my country and called the most altruistic and honest politicians in my team and the Chance party “an organized criminal group.” (…) Mazheik and his people should immediately be declared persona non grata. They are abusing their status to influence the political situation here under the pretext of “supporting democracy”, when in fact they are violating its foundations. (…) Leave the country, disrespectful Mr. Majeix!” Shor wrote on Facebook in Romanian and Russian, posting a photo of the EU ambassador with the words “PISHEL” written in capital letters.

The reaction of the EU ambassador to Moldova

The representative of the EU in Moldova, Ambassador Janis Majeix, responded to Ilan Shor with a sarcastic post in Romanian on Facebook.

• “It is good to see that a convicted criminal wants to leave the Republic of Moldova. This means that we are doing the right thing by helping the state to get dirty money out of Moldovan politics. In any case, I am sure that many Moldovans would like the “most altruistic and honest politician” to return to Moldova, where he could spend the next 15 years without changing his place of residence,” the ambassador said.

The ambassador’s statement says that, according to the latest Interpol information, Ilan Shor should have left Israel, but it is not known exactly where he is. The press wrote that he could be in Turkey or Russia.

The online spat between Ilan Shor and the EU ambassador to Moldova intervenes after Janis Mazheiks commented on the exclusion of the Ilan Shor-affiliated Chance party from the electoral race in the November 5 local elections in the Republic of Moldova. He called this decision “extraordinary” and recommended that the authorities strengthen the legal framework so that in the future such decisions can be made on time, without referring to the commission on emergency situations, writes NewsMaker. The decision to exclude the Chance party was announced on the last day of the election campaign, two days before voting.

“We saw attempts to influence democracy. We have seen how these flows of foreign money come to the Republic of Moldova. Indeed, it was noticeable. According to the SIS, it is about millions,” Mazeix said on Thursday on the air of “Punctul pe AZi” on TVR Moldova.

The “Chance” party, associated with Ilan Shor, was excluded from the local elections for national security reasons by the decision of the Emergency Situations Commission. Therefore, the Central Election Commission stamped “RETRAS” on all ballots, and the formation could not take part in the elections. The Chance party and the fugitive Ilan Shor’s team condemned the withdrawal of the party from the electoral race in the local elections on November 5 and challenged the decision of the ECJ in the courts.

How the party “Chance” appeared.

After the recognition of the unconstitutional party “SHOR”, directly related to the fugitive oligarch, another political entity with the same name appeared in its place – the “Sh.OR” Bloc, consisting of two previously unknown parties: the Moldovan party “Ai Noshtri”. ” and the political party “Alternative and Rescue Forces of Moldova”. The former leader of the ŞOR party, Ilan Shor, announced the creation of the block, NewsMaker writes.

Meanwhile, the Nashi party was renamed the CHANCE political party, and two leaders replaced each other at the helm of the party in less than two weeks. After a few days, when one Olga Ursatiy was the president of the party, journalist Oleksiy Lungu became the new president of the CHANCE party.

Recently, the “Chance” party announced that it is officially merging with the team of fugitive politician Ilan Shor. Later, Shor, together with ShOR MP Marina Tauber, announced that they would support candidates from this party, in particular for the post of mayor of Baltsi and Orhei.

Ilan Shor left the Republic of Moldova in June 2019 after the Democratic Party handed over the government. Since then, the pro-Russian businessman has “organized” several anti-government protests in Chisinau from abroad, paying the participants.