The elected government official from Chisinau reacts after resigning his mandate amid the Sor money scandal
The elected official from Chisinau, who gave up his mandate in the context of the Ilan Șor money scandal, says that he did not receive money from the fugitive oligarch and claims that his departure from Parliament has nothing to do with it.
Maria Acbaș denies receiving the money from Ilan Șor. PHOTO: Facebook
When asked why she is submitting her mandate as deputy, Maria Acbaș replied that the 30-day deadline in which she can submit her mandate is approaching, but she needed time to make up her mind: “I stay in business or I remain a deputy.”
Regarding the message sent to the voters through this decision, Maria Acbaș stated that “it will be more useful if I am in Gagauzia and Chisinau and Gagauzia will collaborate. I think it will be more useful.”
She was also asked if the representatives of the Action and Solidarity Party (PAS) asked her to resign following the information that appeared in the public space, according to which, through a company she managed, she would have benefited from the money of the fugitive oligarch Ilan Şor.
“We didn't take money. This money came through the Gagauzia Executive Committee, which made the lists, but we didn't touch it: as it arrived in the account, that's how it left. We have nothing to do with this money. The distribution took place through the state structure, the Gagauzia Executive Committee”she added.
Five people resigned from their mandate
On November 12, the leader of PAS, Igor Grosu, announced that five deputies of the Action and Solidarity Party are giving up their mandate, among them Maria Acbaș, a businesswoman from Gagauzia.
In recent days, it has come to the attention of public opinion in the Republic of Moldova after the leader of the Political Party Democracy at Home (PPDA), Vasile Costiuc, made public a report of the Intelligence and Security Service (SIS) from 2023.
According to him, a company managed by Maria Acbaș would have received, two years ago, through intermediaries, up to 20 thousand euros, an amount that would have come from the fugitive oligarch Ilan Șor, considered the main tool of the Kremlin in destabilizing Chişinău.
Before the parliamentary elections on September 28, the inclusion of Maria Acbaș on the list of the Action and Solidarity Party aroused the indignation of several Moldovans, especially in the online environment. They were dissatisfied with the fact that, in the 2021 elections, she ran on behalf of the Civic Congress Party, a group led by former communist deputy Mark Tkaciuk, who declared himself convinced that Maria Acbaș would return to the values of the group with which she was connected.
