By CHISINAU. Nov 1 (Interfax-Ukraine) – U.S. sanctions on runaway Moldovan oligarchs will also be in effect in Moldova consistent with a decision made by the Moldovan Commission for Emergency Situations on Tuesday, the Moldovan government’s press service told Interfax.
The sanctions imposed by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury will be reflected in Moldovan legislation. The Moldovan Security and Intelligence Service will make a list of suspected affiliated businesses to be barred from various operations, such as the payment of dividends and transactions involving real estate, movable property and securities for up to five business days.
The Public Property Agency, the National Commission for Financial Markets (and other agencies registering or ceding assets and titles, including shares in the charter capital of legal entities) will abstain from dealing with the sanctioned individuals. Should such operations be detected, the agencies will notify the Money Laundering Prevention and Combating Service within 24 hours, and the service will block the operations for up to 30 days.
Last week, the United States accused runaway Moldovan oligarchs Vladimir Plahotniuc and Ilan Shor of largescale corruption and ties to Russia aimed at destabilization in Moldova and added them to the sanctions list of the U.S. Department of State.
The Moldovan Prosecutor General’s Office accused Plahotniuc and Shor of being the major beneficiaries of a $1-billion defrauding of Moldovan banks. Both of them fled Moldova after the change of administration in June 2019. Now Plahotniuc lives in Northern Cyprus, and Shor resides in Israel. The U.S. imposed sanctions on Plahotniuc in April 2020, and forced him to leave U.S. territory.
