Moldova issues wanted notice for missing pro-Russian lawmaker

By Alexander Tanas

CHISINAU (Reuters) - Moldovan authorities have issued an international wanted notice for a missing pro-Russian member of parliament, who disappeared the day he was handed a 12-year jail sentence on corruption charges.

A second pro-Russian lawmaker, due to be sentenced next week, has also disappeared, officials said.

Both are associates of Ilan Shor, a fugitive business magnate also jailed for his part in a mass fraud scheme who now heads a political party from exile in Moscow. Moldova's pro-European government accuses him of trying to destabilise the ex-Soviet state.

The warrant for lawmaker Alexandr Nesterovschi was issued late on Friday and Interior Minister Daniela Misail-Nichitin said attempts to locate him had failed. Authorities in neighbouring Ukraine and Romania had found no trace of him.

"The warrant for Mr Nesterovschi was issued in record time," Misail-Nichitin told TVR Moldova television.

"Various operations are proceeding, though I cannot speak of them. Absolutely all hypotheses are being analysed. The police are examining every single version to find Nesterovschi."

She said police had considered whether Nesterovschi, who was granted Russian citizenship as his sentence was being announced, was hiding in the Russian embassy, but that had proved to be untrue.

Nesterovschi was accused of accepting money from a criminal group to finance the activities of Shor's "Victory" bloc. Lawmaker Irina Lozovan, awaiting sentencing on similar charges, has also disappeared.

Shor was sentenced to 15 years in prison two years ago in connection with the disappearance of $1 billion from the banking system in Moldova's "theft of the century" in 2014-15. He fled initially to Israel then to Moscow, now has Russian citizenship and has evaded all attempts to extradite him.

Moldovan courts have banned political parties linked to Shor, who has organised noisy anti-government protests in the capital.

Moldova's pro-European president, Maia Sandu, has spearheaded a drive for Moldova, one of Europe's poorest countries, to secure European Union membership by 2030. She denounces Russia's invasion of Ukraine and accuses the Kremlin of trying to unseat her.

(Reporting by Alexander Tanas, Writing by Ron Popeski; Editing by Alistair Bell)