On June 5, the Chisinau Court of Appeal issued a decision in the case against ex-deputy Marina Tauber, accused of complicity in illegal financing of the former Shor party. The judges rejected appeals from both Tauber’s lawyers and prosecutors, upholding the trial court’s decision, which sentenced her to seven and a half years in prison. The decision of the Appeals Chamber can be appealed to the Supreme Court of Justice.
The Appeals Chamber rejected the request of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office to double Tauber’s sentence, as well as the request of the defendant’s lawyers, who expected a commutation of the sentence. The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office published the court’s decision on social networks, without saying whether it plans to appeal it.
Tauber’s lawyer Sergiu Moraru commented on the judges’ decision, saying that he did not expect anything different.
“Everything was predictable, as I said last week, when the Appeals Chamber upheld Hutsul’s verdict. At first I thought that the case was developing so quickly because everyone wanted to find out the truth. But he quickly realized that the goal was to bring a guilty verdict as quickly as possible. Justice reform will become real when politicians and members of the opposition begin to receive sentences that are not to the liking of the authorities,” he complained.
Answering questions from journalists, the lawyer said that he did not know where his client was. “Maybe she’s in Russia, maybe she’s not. Don’t know. I keep in touch with her. And if she asked me whether to return to Moldova, I would not advise her to do this until she can count on a fair investigation here,” he added.
Shortly after the announcement of the decision of the Appeals Chamber, Tauber herself commented on it. “What needed to be proven,” she wrote on social networks.
Let us remind you that September 30, 2025 Tauber was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison on charges of complicity in illegal financing of the former Shor party. According to investigators, as a candidate from the Shor party in the mayoral elections in Balti in 2021, she intentionally and by prior agreement with the leadership of the party and with the criminal group headed by Shor received more than 9.7 million lei for her election campaign. At the same time, prosecutors claim, part of the money was declared as donations from 104 people who, in fact, did not give any money to the party.
Tauber is also accused of receiving another 195.5 million lei in illegal funding from the Shor criminal group to promote the formation and seizure of power in Moldova.
Tauber does not admit his guilt. She left Moldova at the end of last year and has not returned to the country since then. Tauber was reported to be in Russia. Recently she was noticed at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
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