What the Kroll investigation into bank fraud does and does not tell us

The banking crisis peaked in November 2014, just before parliamentary elections. On 27 November, three days before the vote, the National Bank of Moldova took control of Banca de Economii, which had been transferring resources offshore. The three banks, including Unibank and Banca Socială, were left with only a few million lei, and taxpayers must repay MDL 13.6 billion in state bonds.

Kroll was hired to trace the fraud mechanisms, the final destination of the loans and the assets that could be recovered. The findings point to a coordinated scheme: loans for fictitious activities, concerted use of liquidity across the banks, false guarantees and accounting fraud, plus complex money laundering. A large group of companies linked to Ilan Șor was involved, but the final beneficiaries may be more numerous. The synthesis names only Șor; the full Kroll 2 report will stay confidential to protect the investigation.