Moldova police accuse Ilan Șor network of $39M vote-buying ahead of election

On 25 October 2024, Moldovan police announced they had uncovered an alleged large-scale vote-buying operation run by the network of fugitive pro-Russian oligarch Ilan Șor, timed to influence the 20 October presidential election and concurrent EU-membership referendum. Investigators said roughly $39 million had been transferred into the personal bank accounts of Moldovan citizens over the preceding two months, broken down as about $15 million in September and a further $24 million in October. Police said the funds moved through approximately one million individual transfers routed via the Russian state-controlled bank Promsvyazbank (PSB).

Authorities said they had identified upwards of 130,000 people linked to the scheme, including individuals tasked with polling-station roles, campaigners and local organisers, who were allegedly paid to vote for and mobilise support for the pro-Russian camp. Recruits were reportedly instructed and notified, including on the eve of the votes, through Telegram channels indicating which candidate to support. Police chief Viorel Cernăuțeanu said hundreds of people had already been fined for passive electoral corruption. Șor, sentenced in absentia in 2023 to 15 years over a roughly $1 billion bank-fraud case and believed to be in Russia, denied wrongdoing, and the Kremlin denied interfering in the vote. The EU referendum passed narrowly, and incumbent Maia Sandu advanced to a 3 November runoff.

Moldovan authorities present the operation as a Russia-linked effort to sway the referendum and presidential vote through mass cash payments. The financial mechanics described, large dollar flows via a sanctioned Russian state bank and coordination over Telegram, fit a pattern of alleged hybrid interference, but the public account rests on the police investigation, and detailed evidentiary findings were not released at the time. Șor's denial and the Kremlin's rejection of interference claims remain unadjudicated. The narrow referendum margin lends plausibility to claims of meaningful impact, though the precise electoral effect is not independently established.