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Once dubbed the world’s ‘least happy place’ Moldova is often viewed as the forgotten impoverished land wedged between Romania and Ukraine.


Playing Monopoly


Moldova


Moldova may be a small and unassuming nation, however, it has a legendary gambling industry worthy of a Netflix screenplay consisting of a questionable monopoly rife with an undercurrent of fraud, corruption and political intrigue.


In reality it is a charming little nation which suffers from a slight identity crisis as it sways between its Romanian roots and Soviet control. However, it is still known as one of the poorest countries in Europe relying heavily on agriculture and wineries, whilst almost a third of the workforce leave the country to seek work abroad and the money they send home accounts for around 16 per cent of the total GDP.


Te country has struggled to build a solid economy since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. It is the least visited country in Europe despite the lure of an established and successful wine industry.


Wine is exported in gallons to neighbouring Russia, Romania, and Poland mostly whilst visitors are drawn to the vast number of wineries and vineyards.


Moldova was just beginning to cash in on its wine tours to tourists, but the pandemic has seen this sector crumble with sales of Moldovan wine falling by 10 to 30 per cent whilst some wine resorts are saying they have lost 70 per cent of their visitors at the moment. Te country has 110,000 hectares of vineyards and is said to be the 20th largest wine producer in the world.


Back in 2018 there were a total of 364,000 tourists arriving in Moldova of which 160,000 were foreign tourists. Tis dropped to just over 90,000 in the year 2020 (28,700 foreign visitors) and by the first quarter of 2021 the number of tourists reached just 22,000 (7,000 foreign visitors).


As the country stumbles along, with poverty comes corruption, and Moldova was the winner of the ‘Teft of the Century’ award a few years ago when a group of politicians managed to siphon an estimated $1bn out of the country into offshore accounts. Entitled the ‘Billion Case’ the banking scheme stole 12 per cent of Moldova’s GDP.


Current Prime Minister Maia Sandu has been determined to bring the fraudsters to justice and see the money returned – however this has proved easier said than done.


Tree banks and 77 Shor Group companies, all linked to businessman Ilan Shor, were involved in the heist which involved massive fraudulent loans made to entities within the Shor Group. Former Democratic Party leader Vladimir Plahotniuc was reportedly also involved alongside former PM Vlad Filat.


Although Shor was the only official person implicated and was sentenced in 2017 to seven and a half years in prison, he remains free pending the result of an appeal against the verdict. He is currently thought to be hiding in Israel and recently announced he would help the government by returning the stolen ‘billion’ if all charges against him were dropped.


Te theft left the country with huge financial NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE / MARKET DATA P65


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