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By Alexander Tanas
CHISINAU (Reuters) -Moldovan police said on Thursday they searched homes across the country of leaders of a group linked to fugitive pro-Russian businessman Ilan Shor, as part of a criminal investigation into election-meddling.
Police have accused Shor and Russia of trying to interfere in Moldova's Oct. 20 presidential election, which will be held alongside a referendum on making European Union membership a strategic goal in the constitution.
Shor, who is exiled in Russia, has denied allegations of trying to bribe voters, describing statements from Moldovan authorities as an "absurd spectacle".
The police in the ex-Soviet republic of 2.5 million people, which lies between Romania and Ukraine, said tens of thousands of voters were paid off via accounts in a Russian bank to derail the vote. It said the efforts were managed by people in Russia.
Shor's account on Telegram, one of the most popular online platforms in ex-Soviet states, was later blocked in Moldova, though people were able to gain access to an alternative account he opened.
"This is the end of European democracy," Shor wrote on the Russian social media platform VKontakte, according to Moldovan media outlet newsmaker.md. "They are arresting people for taking a position. And now they are blocking Telegram channels."
Thursday's searches were part of an investigation into the creation and operation of a criminal organisation involved in money-laundering, vote-buying and illegal financing aimed at influencing the electoral process, the police said.
Similar searches were conducted at the properties of other Shor supporters in recent days and uncovered funds the police said were meant for bribing voters, and campaign leaflets.
Shor, who was convicted last year in absentia for his role in the theft of $1 billion from Moldovan banks, offered in a post last month on his Telegram account to pay people who vote "no" in the referendum.
Incumbent President Maia Sandu is the favourite to win the election and opinion polls show she is comfortably ahead of the 10 other contenders. Polls also indicate a majority of Moldovans support joining the EU.
Moldova's relations with Russia have deteriorated in recent years. The pro-Western government in Chisinau has accused Moscow of seeking its overthrow and of interfering in its domestic affairs. Moscow has accused Sandu and her team of fomenting "Russophobia".
(Reporting by Alexander Tanas, writing by Yuliia Dysa; Editing by Tom Balmforth, Emelia Sithole-Matarise, Ron Popeski and Rod Nickel)
