Maria Albot

Maria Albot (born Guțuleac, 21 January 1986) is a Moldovan jurist and politician, a former deputy in the 21st legislature of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova, elected on the lists of the Șor Party.

Childhood and education Maria Albot studied at the Logica High School in Chișinău, in a class with Ilan Șor, the son of the founder of the high school. Her party colleague Marina Tauber also studied at the same school. Thus, in 2010-2012 she was a legal advisor at Dufremol SRL, becoming the company's commercial director in 2014, and in 2018 the sister company DFM SRL.

Since August 2015, for one year, she was the head of the Pentru Orhei public association, remaining a member of the association's board of directors. She is active within the Miron Shor charity foundation, where she is or was vice-president.

Albot is included in the European Union (EU)'s list of Moldovan individuals and entities sanctioned for destabilizing, threatening or undermining Moldova's independence and sovereignty due to her close connections with Shor. As a result, Albot and the other sanctioned individuals and entities would not be able to enter or transit through EU member states, and they would be subject to an asset freeze and to a ban on receiving funds or economic resources directly or indirectly.

Controversies According to RISE Moldova, Maria Albot's name appeared in the report of the international audit company Kroll, made by analyzing the circumstances of the 2014 Moldovan bank fraud scandal. The report stated that Albot owned a 4.98% stake in Banca Socială, one of the three banks involved in the 13.7 billion lei bank fraud. The lawyer's husband, Sergiu Albot, was the head of Banca Socială, and in this capacity was sanctioned in 2016 by the National Bank of Moldova for improperly evaluating loans granted. Previously, he had also been vice president of Unibank, another banking institution involved in the theft.