CHISINAU. April 27 (Interfax) - Fugitive Moldovan businessman Ilan Shor, who has been sentenced to 15 years in prison in absentia, has been deprived of his parliamentary mandate, for which 56 parliamentarians from the ruling Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) voted on Friday.
Olesea Stamate, head of the parliament's Standing Committee on Legal Affairs, Appointments, and Immunity, said the decision was made based on the Chisinau Appeals Court's judgment of April 13 to sentence Shor to 15 years in prison and confiscate his property worth 5 billion lei (over $280 million) in favor of the state.
"The parliamentary mandate has been declared vacant. It will be transferred to the next person on the Shor Party's ticket," the parliament said in its resolution.
Shor was charged with causing damage worth several billion lei to Moldova's Banca de Economii (BEM). Shor was also linked to Banca Sociala and Unibank, from which about $1 billion was fraudulently withdrawn in 2015.
Shor was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison for fraud and money laundering in 2017.
Shor is the husband of Russian pop singer Sara Shor, aka Jasmin. He fled Moldova in June 2019 and is currently in Israel. While staying abroad, he was elected to the parliament on the ticket of the Shor Party he leads in 2019 and 2021.
The Moldovan Justice Ministry has formally filed an extradition request for Shor with the Israeli authorities.
The Moldovan Constitutional Court is to hear a motion on banning the Shor party over its nontransparent financing in May.