Businessman Ilan Shor, mayor of Orhei was questioned in the case of the frauds of the two banks, Banca de Economii (Savings Bank) - 13,5 billion lei and Social Bank - 13,2 billion lei. On Friday, March 25, he organized a briefing about the frauds at BEM and he admitted that he had taken bad credits, but he did not plead guilty.

"I do not agree with the charge filed by the Prosecution. It is groundless and is based on assumptions, I do not plead guilty. To prove my innocence, I collaborated with investigation bodies and I will continue to do it. I will take all legal methods. In the last questioning, I presented to the prosecutors a package of documents which, in my opinion, will help to reveal the truth and will prove my innocence to what happened at BEM", said the businessman.

Ilan Shor made clear what was the damage caused by BEM (Savings Bank) after giving bad loans. "This damage is 625 million dollars and consists of two parts: 375 million dollars in the period of Mr. Gacikevici – when Vlad Filat served as PM and controlled BEM - and 250 million dollars are credits issued under different forms and sent to Mr. Filat at his request. As for the case with Gacikevici - we and the prosecution have all documents that prove the formation of this amount. Also, we presented both the report on the amounts released and the percentages which the bank has not received from issuing credits. When loans ceased to be extinguished in 2008-2009, the money was taken from people, and percentage was supposed to be paid for this money. Other money was taken for this percentage. In other words, the pyramid was built as of that period ", said Ilan Shor.

One billion is a mythical figure, believes the mayor of Orhei. "To prove my words, I will hire an international top ten auditing company to identify the exact amount of prejudice caused to the bank and to the state", said Ilan Shor.

He referred to the Kroll report, which would be a quality one, but it does not reply to main question: "Who is the final beneficiary of the stolen money?". "I sent to prosecutors documents which clearly show that the beneficiaries of the first sum of 375 million dollars - are the people behind the companies, which have been issued bad loans in the period of Gacikevici", said Shor.

Meanwhile, the mayor of Orhei stressed the inactions and position of National Bank of Moldova (NBM) to this case. "It is strange that so far, an inventory of the BEM’s pledge has not been carried out and steps have not been taken to achieve it at market prices to settle the debt arising from the period when Gacikevici led the Administration Board of BEM", said Shor.

He underlined that all supporting documents annexed to his self-denouncement which he made in October 2015 confirms who are the beneficiaries of these amounts. "I sent sums of money to Vlad Filat as my companies were threatened by state bodies controlled by him. Initially,  I was convinced that Filat’s intentions concerning the activity of BEM are  good, oriented towards improving the situation of crisis of the bank,  as he was prime minister and his party controlled politically several state institutions", said Ilan Shor.

The politician believes that he was misled, and when he was elected president of the Administration Council of BEM, he was pressed. "Vlad Filat and people from his entourage forced my companies to take credits and the money was transmitted to companies controlled by Ion Rusu and Vlad Filat", concluded Ilan Shor.

Mayor of Orhei, Ilan Shor was heard again at the Anticorruption Prosecutor's Office on Tuesday, March 22. The frauds are enormous in both the case of Savings Bank- 13, 5 billion lei, and Social Bank- 13,2 billion lei. Except Ilan Shor, members of the Administration Councils of Savings Bank, of Social Bank and representatives of legal entities are accused in this criminal case. In May 2015, the Court of Buiucani sector of the capital freed the businessman from house arrest under judicial supervision and then he joined the race for mayor of town Orhei.

In October 2015, the businessman signed a self-denunciation; published later on by the press, based on which Vlad Filat was detained.  The mayor of Orhei said that conditions related to the scandal with the company Le Bridge forced him to ask for help to Filat and he paid a bribe of 500.000 dollars to end excessive checks and win the trial. Subsequently, Vlad Filat had allegedly asked for a bribe of one million dollars to allow duty-free trade with oil in the customs area of the Republic of Moldova. Initially, he paid half a million, and the liberal-democratic leader was supposed to get the rest of the money after he completes his promise. Shor has shown in his self-denunciation that Filat proposed to redeem credits from Banca de Economii amounting at one billion lei to solve the problems at the customs and filling stations. The former Prime Minister has not honored his promise; he did not return the money to the businessman. Mayor of Orhei said that he had given to Vlad Filat a sum of 20 million lei last on October 10, 2015 "for the needs of the party" at the office of Liberal-Democrat Party in Moldova (LDPM) on str. Bucuresti in the capital.