2014 Moldovan bank fraud scandal

[2] Funds worth $1 billion were transferred to the United Kingdom and Hong Kong shell companies used to conceal the real owners of assets,[1][3] then deposited into Latvian bank accounts under the names of various foreigners.In June 2012, the Moldovan Anticorruption Center was requested to investigate the involvement of institutions registered in Moldova in money laundering schemes on regional and international level, following the Sergei Magnitsky cause célèbre.According to a report from the International Monetary Fund, the normative capital of the Banca de Economii (Savings Bank) decreased ten-fold in 2012, whereas the share of overdue credits increased by about 1 billion lei.A van belonging to Klassica Force, a company owned by Shor, while transporting 12 sacks of bank files, was stolen and burned on November 27.On November 27, the Moldovan Government, headed by Prime Minister Iurie Leancă, secretly decided to bail out the three banks with $870 million in emergency loans, covered by state reserves.[6] Moldovan banks have long been notorious for being involved in the region's largest money laundering schemes, known as the Russian Laundromat going far beyond the 2014 theft of $1 billion.[15] Between 2010 and early 2014, organized criminals and corrupt politicians in Russia moved US$20 billion in dirty funds through offshore companies, banks, fake loans, and proxy agents.[23] As a response to the $1 billion disappearance the grass-roots citizens' movement Dignity and Truth (Romanian: Demnitate și Adevăr) was established in February 2015.Ion Rusu, the manager of Caravita Co. Business Estate Investments was sentenced to five years of imprisonment for using the companies to launder funds and commit fraud.[31] In September 2016, 15 former or acting judges and 3 court bailiffs were arrested by the officers of the National Anti-corruption Center, being accused of being involved in the Russian Laundromat scheme.Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee said: "I call upon the Administration and the Congress to investigate whether assets of the national banks of countries of the former Soviet Union are not being plundered and used, knowingly or unknowingly, to benefit terrorist organizations."Romanian Prime Minister Dacian Cioloș said that to get the money, Moldova will have to reform its justice system, fight corruption, sign a draft agreement for a loan from the International Monetary Fund, and appoint a new central bank governor.