“Șor” Party deputy Marina Tauber, targeted in two criminal cases filed on “knowingly accepting party financing from an organized criminal group” and falsifying the party’s financial management report, was placed under judicial control for 30 days. A decision in this regard was taken on Tuesday, 18 October, by the magistrates of the Ciocana court of Chisinau, who partially admitted the prosecutors’ request.

“We do not agree with any preventive measure of freedom. I do not admit my guilt. I am not guilty of anything (…),” Tauber said after the magistrates handed down their decision.

Anti-corruption prosecutors will appeal to the Chisinau Court of Appeal the decision of the judges of the Chisinau Ciocana Court, by which the deputy of the “Sor” party Marina Tauber, targeted in two criminal cases filed on the fact of “knowingly accepting party financing from an organized criminal group” and falsifying the report on the party’s financial management, was placed under judicial control for 30 days. The information was confirmed to Ziarul de Gardă by Mihai Ivanov, one of the prosecutors handling the criminal case.

“We believe that the court’s decision is unfounded and, within the period provided by law, we will appeal it to the Chisinau Court of Appeal (…),” the prosecutor said.

According to Minister of Justice Sergiu Litvinenco, the court’s decision to release from house arrest and place under judicial control Ms Tauber, who was targeted in two criminal cases filed on the grounds of “knowingly accepting party funding from an organized criminal group” and falsifying the party’s financial management report, “speaks once again about how serious things are in the justice system.”

“Apart from the many question marks, this (decision n.r.) causes fully justified discontent in society, but also further undermines confidence in justice. The blatant violation of the legislation on the financing of political parties is a corrupt element that cannot be challenged.

I assume that the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office will challenge the ruling at the Chisinau Court of Appeal and, although it is the magistrates who must ultimately make the decision, I very much hope that the amalgam of information and evidence that clearly proves the illegalities will be taken into account,” the Justice Minister wrote on his Facebook page.

In July 2022, anti-corruption prosecutors together with officers of the National Anti-Corruption Centre (CNA), carried out several raids in the criminal case on the illegal financing of the “Sor” political party. At the time, the CNA announced that in the first half of this year, the “Shor” political party had made payments of 600,000 euros, while reported expenditure was just over 228,000 lei.

According to the evidence on file, it was found that the party had knowingly accepted money of dubious origin from a “criminal group”, which was used for party purposes, such as fees for artists, salaries for members and the organisation of protests. According to the NAC, the money of the “criminal group” arrived in Moldova in the form of transfers and conversions, including in cryptocurrency, and various financing channels such as Dubai, Vienna and Monaco were used to disguise the origin of the funds.

Also in July, the former acting Prosecutor General Dumitru Robu submitted two requests to Parliament to waive the immunity of MP Marina Tauber.

Tauber then described the lifting of parliamentary immunity as a “political decision that has already been taken”. The party vice-president declared herself innocent and said she was not afraid of anything, “neither of detention nor of searches”.

On 23 July, Marina Tauber was remanded in custody for 30 days in Prison No. 13 in the capital. On 16 August, magistrates extended the arrest warrant for Marina Tauber for another 20 days. She was subsequently placed under house arrest and the measure was extended several more times.

Marina Tauber is the vice-president of the “Shor” party. Earlier, ZdG wrote that Tauber served as mayor of Jora de Mijloc for almost a year before entering the legislature. Until 2016, before entering politics, she was the president of the Moldovan Tennis Federation for six years. Ilan Shor’s former schoolmate is listed in both Kroll reports on the theft of the billion from the three banks. According to the report, Tauber, along with other Unibank shareholders, allegedly acted in concert to benefit Ilan Shor.

In 2020, Tauber’s wealth was the pretext for two complaints to the ANI and the PG. At the time, the author of the petition, former Socialist MP Marina Radvan, said that the data in Marina Tauber’s wealth declarations raised doubts.