{"id":425518,"date":"2015-06-18T13:17:07","date_gmt":"2015-06-18T10:17:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.moldova.org\/?p=425518"},"modified":"2015-06-18T13:17:07","modified_gmt":"2015-06-18T10:17:07","slug":"bbc-news-the-great-moldovan-robbery-is-still-a-mystery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/bbc-news-the-great-moldovan-robbery-is-still-a-mystery\/","title":{"rendered":"BBC News: The great Moldovan robbery is still a mystery"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

Tim Whewell, in his article for BBC News<\/a>, investigates how a billion dollars has mysteriously disappeared from banks in Moldova \u2013 equivalent to more than an eighth of the country\u2019s GDP.<\/p>\n

Referring to the Kroll report, Whewell tells that the trail leads through UK registered limited partnerships to Latvia and to off-shore tax heavens:\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

But the money, according to Kroll, isn’t in Moldova anyway.<\/strong> The five Moldovan firms, including Caritas Group SRL, that allegedly received the loans are said to have transferred the money immediately to five UK- and Hong-Kong-registered firms. But they all bank in Latvia, and most seem to be owned in turn by companies in offshore tax havens. And in a final layer of obfuscation, they now owe all the money not to Banca Sociala, but to another UK-registered entity, Fortuna United LP, that’s said to have bought the entire combined loan.<\/p>\n

Look up Fortuna United LP, and you’ll find it’s registered – along with 421 other active firms – at a flat in a run-down part of Edinburgh. It’s a limited partnership formed of two companies in the Seychelles about which no further information is available.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When talking with\u00a0Vasile Sarco from Moldova’s Office for Prevention of Money-laundering, the British journalist notices the similarities between the Russian laundromat<\/a>\u00a0and the operations done to steal the billion from the Moldovan banks. Sarco mentions that both operations were created by the same person:<\/p>\n

He’s investigating not only the disappearance of the $1bn from the three banks, but also an earlier $20bn operation which laundered dirty money from Russia through Moldova into the EU.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In both cases, he says, there’s been a similar use of UK “shell” companies with Latvian accounts. They’re not the same companies, though some use identical UK addresses. He believes there’s a single “Mr Big”<\/strong> living in Russia who masterminded the first scheme and advised on the second.<\/p>\n

“We’ve analysed the character of the transactions,” he says, “and all the pieces involved here give us reason to say that this guy helped Ilan Shor to make this scenario.”<\/p>\n

He won’t tell me the man’s name – only that he’s a joint Moldovan-Russian citizen who controls some banks in Moldova.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The article has Ilan Shor in the focus, a 28-year old millionaire and mayor,\u00a0as he is allegedly involved in the activity of Banca de Economii, Banca Sociala and Unibank, the robbed banks, when he was the director of the first one. Shor, in his interview for Whewell<\/a>, defends himself:<\/p>\n

It’s hard to believe, looking at him, the scale of the allegations he faces.<\/p>\n

Shor denies responsibility for the financial catastrophe. The Kroll report – based on National Bank records – proves nothing, he says, and contains no documents “apart from cuttings from various articles”.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Beside investigating and discussing with politicians, Tim Whewell stresses that the Moldovan people are strongly disappointed in the context of the financial situation of Moldova:<\/p>\n

For many people on the streets of Chisinau, that credibility is already lost. They don’t blame Ilan Shor – just everyone in power.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“They are stealing,” one woman says. “We think that our government steal everything they can from us.”<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reading Time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>Tim Whewell, in his article for BBC News, investigates how a billion dollars has mysteriously disappeared from banks in Moldova \u2013 equivalent to more than an eighth of the country\u2019s GDP. Referring to the Kroll report, Whewell tells that the trail leads through UK registered limited partnerships to Latvia and to off-shore tax heavens:\u00a0 But […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":410974,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-425518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"content_social_share":"Reading Time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

Tim Whewell, in his article for BBC News<\/a>, investigates how a billion dollars has mysteriously disappeared from banks in Moldova \u2013 equivalent to more than an eighth of the country\u2019s GDP.<\/p>\n

Referring to the Kroll report, Whewell tells that the trail leads through UK registered limited partnerships to Latvia and to off-shore tax heavens:\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

But the money, according to Kroll, isn’t in Moldova anyway.<\/strong> The five Moldovan firms, including Caritas Group SRL, that allegedly received the loans are said to have transferred the money immediately to five UK- and Hong-Kong-registered firms. But they all bank in Latvia, and most seem to be owned in turn by companies in offshore tax havens. And in a final layer of obfuscation, they now owe all the money not to Banca Sociala, but to another UK-registered entity, Fortuna United LP, that’s said to have bought the entire combined loan.<\/p>\n

Look up Fortuna United LP, and you’ll find it’s registered – along with 421 other active firms – at a flat in a run-down part of Edinburgh. It’s a limited partnership formed of two companies in the Seychelles about which no further information is available.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When talking with\u00a0Vasile Sarco from Moldova’s Office for Prevention of Money-laundering, the British journalist notices the similarities between the Russian laundromat<\/a>\u00a0and the operations done to steal the billion from the Moldovan banks. Sarco mentions that both operations were created by the same person:<\/p>\n

He’s investigating not only the disappearance of the $1bn from the three banks, but also an earlier $20bn operation which laundered dirty money from Russia through Moldova into the EU.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In both cases, he says, there’s been a similar use of UK “shell” companies with Latvian accounts. They’re not the same companies, though some use identical UK addresses. He believes there’s a single “Mr Big”<\/strong> living in Russia who masterminded the first scheme and advised on the second.<\/p>\n

“We’ve analysed the character of the transactions,” he says, “and all the pieces involved here give us reason to say that this guy helped Ilan Shor to make this scenario.”<\/p>\n

He won’t tell me the man’s name – only that he’s a joint Moldovan-Russian citizen who controls some banks in Moldova.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The article has Ilan Shor in the focus, a 28-year old millionaire and mayor,\u00a0as he is allegedly involved in the activity of Banca de Economii, Banca Sociala and Unibank, the robbed banks, when he was the director of the first one. Shor, in his interview for Whewell<\/a>, defends himself:<\/p>\n

It’s hard to believe, looking at him, the scale of the allegations he faces.<\/p>\n

Shor denies responsibility for the financial catastrophe. The Kroll report – based on National Bank records – proves nothing, he says, and contains no documents “apart from cuttings from various articles”.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Beside investigating and discussing with politicians, Tim Whewell stresses that the Moldovan people are strongly disappointed in the context of the financial situation of Moldova:<\/p>\n

For many people on the streets of Chisinau, that credibility is already lost. They don’t blame Ilan Shor – just everyone in power.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“They are stealing,” one woman says. “We think that our government steal everything they can from us.”<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/div>
<\/div>
<\/path><\/svg><\/span><\/a><\/path><\/svg><\/span><\/a><\/path><\/svg><\/span><\/a><\/path><\/svg><\/span><\/a><\/div>
<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>","yoast_head":"\nBBC News: The great Moldovan robbery is still a mystery - Moldova.org<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/bbc-news-the-great-moldovan-robbery-is-still-a-mystery\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cristi Vlas\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moldova.org\\\/en\\\/bbc-news-the-great-moldovan-robbery-is-still-a-mystery\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moldova.org\\\/en\\\/bbc-news-the-great-moldovan-robbery-is-still-a-mystery\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Cristi Vlas\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moldova.org\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/dcbd06b375a29cab9233deffe7826a9f\"},\"headline\":\"BBC News: The great Moldovan robbery is still a mystery\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-06-18T10:17:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moldova.org\\\/en\\\/bbc-news-the-great-moldovan-robbery-is-still-a-mystery\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":533,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moldova.org\\\/en\\\/bbc-news-the-great-moldovan-robbery-is-still-a-mystery\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"articleSection\":[\"Opinion\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moldova.org\\\/en\\\/bbc-news-the-great-moldovan-robbery-is-still-a-mystery\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moldova.org\\\/en\\\/bbc-news-the-great-moldovan-robbery-is-still-a-mystery\\\/\",\"name\":\"BBC News: The great Moldovan robbery is still a mystery - Moldova.org\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moldova.org\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moldova.org\\\/en\\\/bbc-news-the-great-moldovan-robbery-is-still-a-mystery\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moldova.org\\\/en\\\/bbc-news-the-great-moldovan-robbery-is-still-a-mystery\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-06-18T10:17:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moldova.org\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/dcbd06b375a29cab9233deffe7826a9f\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moldova.org\\\/en\\\/bbc-news-the-great-moldovan-robbery-is-still-a-mystery\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moldova.org\\\/en\\\/bbc-news-the-great-moldovan-robbery-is-still-a-mystery\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moldova.org\\\/en\\\/bbc-news-the-great-moldovan-robbery-is-still-a-mystery\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moldova.org\\\/en\\\/bbc-news-the-great-moldovan-robbery-is-still-a-mystery\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moldova.org\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"BBC News: The great Moldovan robbery is still a mystery\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moldova.org\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moldova.org\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"Moldova.org\",\"description\":\"The first news website of Moldova\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moldova.org\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moldova.org\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/dcbd06b375a29cab9233deffe7826a9f\",\"name\":\"Cristi Vlas\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9571533086858aeac4e82dcdcedc89ca83145ca3b5bdff443ef1f303ee16b179?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9571533086858aeac4e82dcdcedc89ca83145ca3b5bdff443ef1f303ee16b179?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9571533086858aeac4e82dcdcedc89ca83145ca3b5bdff443ef1f303ee16b179?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Cristi Vlas\"},\"description\":\"Correspondent reporter of Moldova.org Focus: Transnistrian conflict settlement, Eastern Partnership. Inquiries at cvlas@moldova.org\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/cristi.vlas.9\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/cristi_vlas\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/in\\\/cristi-vlas-ab463276\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/twitter.com\\\/cristivlas\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moldova.org\\\/en\\\/author\\\/cristivlas\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"BBC News: The great Moldovan robbery is still a mystery - Moldova.org","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/bbc-news-the-great-moldovan-robbery-is-still-a-mystery\/","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Cristi Vlas","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/bbc-news-the-great-moldovan-robbery-is-still-a-mystery\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/bbc-news-the-great-moldovan-robbery-is-still-a-mystery\/"},"author":{"name":"Cristi Vlas","@id":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/dcbd06b375a29cab9233deffe7826a9f"},"headline":"BBC News: The great Moldovan robbery is still a mystery","datePublished":"2015-06-18T10:17:07+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/bbc-news-the-great-moldovan-robbery-is-still-a-mystery\/"},"wordCount":533,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/bbc-news-the-great-moldovan-robbery-is-still-a-mystery\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","articleSection":["Opinion"],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/bbc-news-the-great-moldovan-robbery-is-still-a-mystery\/","url":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/bbc-news-the-great-moldovan-robbery-is-still-a-mystery\/","name":"BBC News: The great Moldovan robbery is still a mystery - Moldova.org","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/bbc-news-the-great-moldovan-robbery-is-still-a-mystery\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/bbc-news-the-great-moldovan-robbery-is-still-a-mystery\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","datePublished":"2015-06-18T10:17:07+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/dcbd06b375a29cab9233deffe7826a9f"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/bbc-news-the-great-moldovan-robbery-is-still-a-mystery\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/bbc-news-the-great-moldovan-robbery-is-still-a-mystery\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/bbc-news-the-great-moldovan-robbery-is-still-a-mystery\/#primaryimage","url":"","contentUrl":""},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/bbc-news-the-great-moldovan-robbery-is-still-a-mystery\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"BBC News: The great Moldovan robbery is still a mystery"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/","name":"Moldova.org","description":"The first news website of Moldova","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/dcbd06b375a29cab9233deffe7826a9f","name":"Cristi Vlas","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9571533086858aeac4e82dcdcedc89ca83145ca3b5bdff443ef1f303ee16b179?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9571533086858aeac4e82dcdcedc89ca83145ca3b5bdff443ef1f303ee16b179?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9571533086858aeac4e82dcdcedc89ca83145ca3b5bdff443ef1f303ee16b179?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Cristi Vlas"},"description":"Correspondent reporter of Moldova.org Focus: Transnistrian conflict settlement, Eastern Partnership. Inquiries at cvlas@moldova.org","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cristi.vlas.9","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/cristi_vlas\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/cristi-vlas-ab463276\/","https:\/\/x.com\/twitter.com\/cristivlas"],"url":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/author\/cristivlas\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425518\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}