Moldovan Orhei city's council turns down prosecutors' demand to suspend Orhei mayor from office

Chisinau, 5 July /MOLDPRES/ - The Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office will check in court possibility to appeal the decision of the central Orhei city council, which today rejected prosecutors’ demand to temporarily suspect Orhei mayor Ilan Shor from office.   

According to the press service of the Prosecutor General’s Office (PG), in the line with the Criminal Procedure Code, the prosecutor cannot appeal a decision, under which the petition on provisional dismissal of the defendant from position was turned down. Only the culprit has this right, who can appeal the decision on his suspension from office at the court investigator.    

On 4 July, prosecutors submitted a demand on temporary suspension of Ilan Shor from the Orhei mayor office during the carrying out of the investigation.  

On 24 June, 2016, Orhei mayor Ilan Shor was issued a warrant of arrest for 30 days in a file of money laundering and swindle in very large amount. The mayor’s lawyers appealed the ruling by judges of the Buiucani district court of Chisinau at the Court of Appeal; yet, the appeal was rejected.

Anticorruption officers detained Ilan Shor on 22 June in a new criminal file. Shor is charged with swindle in very large amount, money laundering and providing bad credits on the period when holding the office of chairman of the administrative board of Banca de Economii (Savings Banks, BEM).

The Prosecutor General’s Office initiated criminal proceedings against him back in December 2014 on dubious transactions between Banca de Economii and Banca Sociala. In May 2015, the businessman was placed under home arrest for 30 days, with a status of defendant in the BEM file. Shor’s lawyers turned down the charges brought by prosecutors, noting that he pleads not guilty. 

(Reporter P. Beregoi, editor A. Raileanu)