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Andrei Nastase became a marked man due to his role in exposing a criminal network run by the Russian mafia and shady powerful oligarchs which had laundered a staggering $22bn (£17bn) of illicit money.
Guns were fired near the lawyer and former prosecutor’s family home in the Moldovan capital Chisinau; a hidden camera was later discovered planted inside the house. Cars with number plates from Transnistria, a Russian enclave, followed him daily. His wife and children were harassed, as was his brother Vasile, a journalist and former MP.
Doctors suspected Nastase was the victim of poisoning when five times the normal level of mercury was found in his blood after he became suddenly ill. He decided, after recovery, to send his wife and children out of the country for their safety.
The family were separated for eight months in 2012, with Nastase and other pro-democracy activists facing constant pressure during the turbulence still present after more than a decade of independence from the Soviet Union. The reformers continued to fight back. In 2018, Nastase stood for, and won, the mayoral election for Chisinau, beating the pro-Russian candidate Ion Ceban.
The election, however, was declared invalid by the courts on a technicality. Nastase had campaigned on election day in an alleged violation of rules. The decision led to prolonged street protests and extensive criticism from the US administration and the European Union, with Brussels suspending a €100m (£84m) aid package to Moldova as a punishment.
Moldova’s Court of Appeal eventually overturned Nastase’s ban and reinstated him as Chisinau’s mayor. He was, however, serving as interior minister by then in the liberal cabinet led by prime minister (now president) Maia Sandu. He went on to become deputy prime minister but the government later fell, having lost a vote of no confidence. Sandu became president after winning the election in 2021.
Nastase went into academia. But he is now standing in the presidential election due in October, at a time when Moldova is caught in geopolitical crossfire with war in next door Ukraine, tensions over breakaway Transnistria – legally, a part of the country but with a heavy Russian military presence – and warnings of the Kremlin seeking to assert control in former Soviet states.
Nastase will be campaigning, he says, on backing the future of Moldova in the European Union, strengthening law enforcement against corruption and organised crime, and integrating Transnistria into the country through dialogue.
He says that Moldova, although small with a population of just 3.3 million, will be of international significance due to its strategic location and is seeking to press his country’s case abroad. He went to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee last week and plans to attend next month’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
“Democracy and the rule of law has a difficult road in Moldova. The threats of violence we faced were really stressful and I was very worried about my family. These powerful people also misuse the law. The oligarchic regime blocked me from being mayor despite my winning because on election day, I urged people to go out and vote. I did not say, ‘Vote for me’, just vote for whoever. Other candidates have been much more partisan in elections but the vested interests used this as an excuse to stop me”, says Nastase.
“We’ve been activists since we were young. My brother Vasile was one of the signatories of the declaration of independence [from the Soviet Union]. I feel I can serve my country in public life when we are going through a really difficult situation. Both at home and internationally, we face very hard challenges.”
The West and Russia view this small country as a sought-after prize in the contest between the West and Russia. October will also see a referendum on the country’s eventual membership of the European Union; accession talks have already begun.
Moldova’s security service claims that the Kremlin has secretly sent millions of dollars for bribing officials and buying votes in local elections. Last month, the US, British and Canadian governments accused Russia of “seeking to undermine Moldovan democratic institutions in the lead-up to the October presidential elections and a referendum on Moldova’s EU membership”.
A number of judges, it is claimed, owe their position and loyalty to oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc, who is under sanctions by the US State Department for allegedly using legal officials to target political and business rivals.
The US Treasury, meanwhile, has sanctioned Ilan Shor, who was convicted of fraud in 2017 over the theft of $1bn from Moldovan banks three years earlier. The pro-Kremlin billionaire and politician who now has Israeli and Russian citizenship lives between Moscow and Tel Aviv.
Nastase has crossed swords with both men. Plahotniuc is seen as the prime mover behind getting the mayoral election annulled. And Nastase is said to have incurred Shor’s animosity during his investigations into the clandestine “Russian Laundromat” money scheme in which 16 judges and four court officials faced accusations of corruption. Apart from the $22bn in Moldova, another $60bn is believed to have been “washed” through other former Soviet bloc countries.
Nastase says: “I uncovered operations involving the Russian mafia. This scheme funnelled billions of dollars through Moldova using at least 21 shell companies which fabricated debt claims in Moldovan courts, which were then used to transfer funds to Moldovan banks and subsequently to banks in different countries. From there, the money was dispersed to over 5,000 companies in 96 countries.”
Shor formed his own political party, “Sor”, which was dissolved after a court ruled that he had been funding disorder and unrest. But the decision was reversed by the Constitutional Court after claims that the ban was imposed too hastily.
Shor’s group was expected to be joined in the pro-Moscow bloc by Ion Ceban, who briefly became mayor of Chisinau by default when Nastase was banned. They can expect support from a section of the electorate in Moldova, as well as sizeable numbers in Transnistria and Gagauzia, a region whose Turkic population speak Russian and whose leader Yevgenia Gutsul has close ties with both Shor and Vladimir Putin. Former president Igor Dodon, who was also expected to run, says he is withdrawing amid reports that he will put a protege in place.
Sandu, the only pro-European candidate until Nastase decided to run has had the broad backing so far of Western states. Nastase, who has been out of mainstream politics for four years, maintains that his campaign will gain momentum in the coming months.
“I am going to keep to my message I strongly support Moldova’s integration into the European Union”, he says, adding, however, that there was a need for utmost care to be given to ensure people with socially conservative values are not alienated.
“I believe the EU must recognise and respect the diverse cultures of its member countries, acknowledge the historical, social, and cultural contexts that shape nations while fostering unity and cooperation. This cultural sensitivity will surely strengthen the EU and ensure that all member states feel valued and respected.”
Nastase and Sandu were once allies. She strongly backed his mayoral campaign. In the 2016 presidential election, he stepped aside for her, despite leading marginally in polls, to ensure the pro-European vote was not split against the pro-Moscow group.
But they fell out over the role of Sandu’s party in appointing a general prosecutor, which was adjudged to be unconstitutional and illegal. Its act, he charges, led to a progressive government falling, precisely what “psychosis and hysteria fuelled by KGB propagandists” had sought to bring about.
“My reason for standing now is that I don’t think the government has delivered on its promises. I think it’s very important to engage in the democratic process to challenge those in power. That keeps people engaged in politics”, he says. “If we fail to engage the people, there is apathy and that creates the conditions for the oligarch regime to win. That’ll be bad for Moldova and bad for Europe.”
