The hearing in the case of conviction of the former president of the Administration Board of Banca de Economii Ilan Shor, which was set for October 19, was postponed for the reason that the lawyers for the accused didn’t show up. The Chisinau Appeals Court’s judges examining the case ordered to impose a fine on the lawyers. The judges also assigned a lawyer for the culprit. The lawyers for Shor say the court’s decision is illegal as they informed beforehand that they will be absent from the hearing, IPN reports.
“We informed the court and consider that our request to put off the hearing was well-founded as the applications to examine the preventive detention requests are given priority. Consequently, we will challenge the Chisinau Appeals Court’s decision that is aimed only at further intimidating our client Ilan Shor,” said lawyer Aureliu Colenco, being quoted in a press release of Șor Party.
For their part, the prosecutors consider the lawyers for Ilan Shor delay the examination of the case.
The next hearing was set for October 22, starting at 12 noon.
In June 2017, Ilan Shor was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison for his role in the $1B bank fraud. The sentence was challenged in the Appeals Court and Shor was freed from house arrest on bail until a definitive sentence. In February 2018, the case was moved to the Cahul Appeals Court and a final judgment hasn’t been passed yet. In June 2019, Ilan Shor reportedly sneaked out of the country in breach of his bail conditions. Exiting the country bypassing border and customs formalities is itself a criminal offense for which Shor faces a hefty fine or up to 2 years in prison. This August, the Supreme Court of Justice accepted the request of Ilan Shor’s lawyers to transfer the case to the Chisinau Appeals Court.
