Shor’s Air Fleet in Türkiye 

Squeezed between international sanctions and Interpol, Ilan Shor – a fugitive Moldovan oligarch – has holed up in Moscow and started an aviation business of his own.

RISE Moldova has found three airplanes and one helicopter – all of which have been purchased through intermediaries. Their formal residence is an airfield of a Turkish businessman. A national of Uzbekistan appears on papers as the nominal beneficiary.

We have tracked hundreds of flights operated by Shor’s four aircraft, from 2024 to present. Most frequently, the planes connected Moscow with Ankara, Tel Aviv, and Abu Dhabi. Two of the planes have been used by Kyrgyzstan’s President Sadyr Japarov.

SHOR’S NETWORK

• Victor Gutuleac, 42 years old, a former inspector at the National Anti-Corruption Center and at the Customs Service. He was involved in a voter-buying scheme during the 2023 local elections. More precisely, he transferred about one million euros to a purported “businessman” for charitable activities in Moldova, under the auspices of Ilan Shor – a scheme documented in the investigation “Shor’s Courier in Moscow.”
  
  The only public photograph of himself appeared on the press page of the Metropolitan Church of Moldova’s website, in September 2022. After the publication of our investigation, the content of that communication was deleted entirely.
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• Later, we identified another man in the same photo. A key piece in the management of Shor’s fleet. His name is Radion Munteanu, a 48-year-old native of the town of Hincesti. In the picture, he is also holding an icon. There is no official data about Munteanu’s previous activity in Moldova.

• Zafer Halidi, 48 years old, a Turkish businessman. A former pilot, he owns Zafer Air Trust. In late 2025, the company operated 12 aircraft, at least four of which were purchased through Shor’s intermediaries. In public reports, Halidi is introduced as the general manager of a defense industry company that develops “military vehicles and equipment for modern armies and security forces.”

• Sobit Israilov, 47 years old, from Uzbekistan. He runs the Turkish company Ragazzo Insaat Malzemeleri, is the legal owner of the aircraft.

THE FIRST AIRCRAFT: A HELICOPTER

In spring 2024, an AgustaWestland AW139 helicopter is registered under number TC-HZM. The prefix TC is used exclusively for aircraft registered with the Turkish aviation authority. The helicopter was built in 2023, with a capacity of six passengers, and can be used both for civilian and military missions. It is the first helicopter in the Zafer Air fleet and the first flying machine in Shor’s fleet. Purchased from the United Kingdom, the helicopter arrived in Türkiye on June 6, following the route London–Bucharest–Ankara. 

Leaked data from the Shor network show that before the helicopter was brought to Ankara, Victor Gutuleac had transferred approximately seven million euros to Zafer Halidi, head of Zafer Air, formalizing the payment as a loan agreement. The money was intended for “covering the purchase [of the helicopter], in the name of any company chosen” by the recipient [Halidi].

The agreement, however, does not specify any repayment terms. It states that the debt will be paid off whenever Gutuleac requests, but not in monetary form – it will be settled by transferring the aircraft’s ownership to a designated creditor. Until that time, Halidi has the right to use the helicopter as he wishes.

Furthermore, the agreement includes strict confidentiality rules. The loan terms are considered “secret information” and cannot be made public without the consent of both parties, except when the state authorities or courts demand disclosure.

Mai mult, contractul include și reguli stricte de confidențialitate. Toate informațiile legate de împrumut sunt considerate secrete și nu pot fi făcute publice fără acordul ambelor părți, cu excepția situațiilor impuse de autorități sau instanțe.

Thus, Zafer Halidi registers the helicopter for Arel Havacilik Limited Şirketi, one of 13 companies within Zafer Air Trust. We have records about 20 flights performed by this helicopter, all within Turkish territory; the last one was carried out on October 10, 2025.

In July 2024, the helicopter lands on a stadium in the city of Fethiye, in southwest Türkiye, an area known as “Turkish Riviera” for its clear waters, beaches, and spectacular landscapes. A few minutes later, a “Russian billionaire” boarded the aircraft, according to a report published by Fethiye Televizyonu, a local television station, on its Facebook page.

THE SECOND AIRCRAFT

On the same day Gutuleac offered the Turkish businessman the 7-million-euro “loan” for the helicopter, the two signed a second agreement. He gave Halidi nearly 22 million US dollars to buy a Gulfstream G650ER airplane. The new aircraft also ends up being registered as a property of Arel Havacilik Limited Şirketi, operated by Zafer Air. The plane, with the registration number TC-MZE, was manufactured in 2018.

Gulfstream G650ER is known as a long-range aircraft, designed for intercontinental flights. It can cover up to 14,000 kilometers and carry up to 19 passengers. Endowments include a luxurious cabin, several separate areas, beds, a fully-equipped kitchen, high-speed internet, and advanced comfort systems. A new plane of this model costs around 70 million US dollars. Typically, such aircraft are mainly used by billionaires, businessmen, or international celebrities. Among the names frequently mentioned publicly as owners of such jewels are Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Kim Kardashian, and Michael Jordan.

This is the first plane and the one that that has been used in most flights – nearly 300 flights – according to analysis by RISE. It connected Ankara, Moscow, Istanbul, Bodrum, Tel Aviv, Bishkek, and Abu Dhabi as primary destinations.

In December 2025, the plane took Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov to an official visit to Tokyo, Japan. Data from public air traffic monitoring show that Japarov flew from Japan to the Russian Federation aboard the same plane, which was customized as “Kyrgyz Republic” prior to the visit.

Sadyr Japarov has been the President of Kyrgyzstan since 2020, using the office to significantly expand the presidential powers, weaken impeachment mechanisms, and reduce access to government information. During coordinated raids last year, the Kyrgyz authorities detained several journalists and media workers employed with the independent publication Kloop, known for investigations on corruption and abuse of power.

Shor’s connection to Kyrgyzstan

Sentenced to 15 years in prison in a billion-dollar “Bank Fraud” case in Moldova and under pressure of a global manhunt and international sanctions, Ilan Shor has settled in Moscow, where he acquired Russian citizenship and started doing business with the Russian state. Specifically, he helps Russia circumvent international sanctions following its invasion of Ukraine, seeking alternatives for cross-border payment channels after Russian banks were cut off from SWIFT, the global financial messaging system.

In February 2025, Shor launched a digital cryptocurrency called A7A5 in Kyrgyzstan, backed by his A7 holding – a venture with PromsvyazBank, a Russian state bank under direct control of Vladimir Putin. This stablecoin is advertised as a tool for cross-border payments that evade Western sanctions.
In a previous investigation he described in detail how Ilan Shor had infiltrated the markets in Kyrgyzstan and the United Arab Emirates, read it HERE.

In October 2025, the European Union slapped sanctions on the A7A5developer, the Kyrgyz issuer of the currency, and the operator of the platform where significant volumes of A7A5 are traded. Also, transactions involving this stablecoin have neem banned in the European Union.

THE THIRD AIRCRAFT 

Introducing the second intermediary, Radion Munteanu. Following Gutuleac’s template and using an identical agreement, he offers Zafer Halidi nearly 18 million dollars as loan, which the Turkish businessman spent to buy a Gulfstream G450, built in 2013. IPN.md published a report about this plane as early as last autumn, outlining the relationship between Ilan Shor and Sadyr Japarov, the president of Kyrgyzstan.

The agreement, dated December 19, 2024, stipulates that the aircraft will be registered by Halidi under a company of his choice, then, at Munteanu’s decision, Halidi will repay the debt by transferring the plane to a company indicated by the former.

Initially, the aircraft was registered in San Marino, under the tail number T7-ELIF, and was operated by a Dubai-based company called Mangrove Jet Solutions FZCO. It flew under the San Marino flag for less than a month, from March through April 2025, and was later re-registered in Türkiye, bearing registration TC-KRG.

Although it is part of the Zafer Air fleet, the plane is operated by the Government of Kyrgyzstan, whose flag and name are affixed to the fuselage. In fact, it had been already customized during the time of registration in San Marino, in March 2025. It was this plane that Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov embarked for his official visit to Moscow for the May 9 parade, and to Hungary in late May 2025.

RISE Moldova analyzed about 150 flights with the TC-KRG board. In addition to four official visits undertaken made by the Kyrgyz leader in 2025, the aircraft frequently flew the routes Moscow-Bishkek-Ankara-Dubai (and Abu Dhabi), as well as to European cities such as Riga, Brussels, Vienna, and Barcelona.

We asked for an interview with Japarov via the X platform and his spokesperson, but had not received a response till the publication day.

THE FOURTH AIRCRAFT

One more Gulfstream G650ER. The new aircraft, also purchased by Munteanu, was manufactured in 2016, and like the others, is registered in Turkey, in Halidi’s fleet. It operates under the number TC-MZK. It is not clear how much it cost or where the money came from, but in December 2024, Munteanu borrowed 51.5 million dollars from a Turkish company founded two months earlier.

The company is called Ragazzo Insaat Malzemeleri İthalat İhracat Limited Şirketi (which translates from Turkish as Ragazzo Construction Materials) and was registered in October 2024 by Sobit Israilov, a national of Uzbekistan. The loan agreements analyzed by RISE suggest that during its first months of operation, the company was turning over millions of dollars.

Munteanu had less than a month to repay the loan. Failing to meet the deadline, at the end of January 2025, Radion Munteanu transferred the plane to Ragazzo, which at that time was registered on the name of Arel Havacilik Anonim, a company represented by Zafer Halidi.

Pentru a întoarce banii, Munteanu are la dispoziție mai puțin de o lună. Întrucât nu respectă termenul, la sfârșitul lunii ianuarie 2025, Radion Munteanu cedează către Ragazzo avionul care, la acel moment, era înscris pe Arel Havacilik Anonim, firma reprezentată de Zafer Halidi.

Like the other aircraft in the fleet, TC-MZK operated most frequently in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East. The most frequent destinations were Turkey, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, Israel, Qatar, and Kyrgyzstan.

Data from air traffic monitoring systems show that during the period March 2–7, 2025, which coincides with Ilan Shor’s birthday timing, the aircraft was in the Maldives.

Gutuleac “loses” his aircraft, too

Shor’s other intermediary, Victor Guțuleac, also benefited from funding from the Uzbek national’s company. He requested a credit line of 50 million USDT, a cryptocurrency, equivalent to 50 million US dollars. To guarantee the loan, Gutuleac pledges the helicopter and the first G650ER plane, which he risks losing quickly.

The loan conditions are risky. The interest stipulated in the contract is 1.75% per week, meaning Victor Gutuleac must pay approximately 875,000 dollars weekly in interest alone, not to mention the principal debt. Moreover, if the debt and interest are not fully or partially repaid within the first two months, the interest automatically increases to 1.25 million dollars per week.

Consequently, if Gutuleac fails to repay the 50 million dollars within eight weeks, the costs become so high that the foreclosed seizure of the pledged planes is practically inevitable, and Ragazzo takes over the two aircraft from Arel Havacilik Anonim.

RISE Moldova has no evidence that the aircraft most frequently used by the Kyrgyz president, registered as TC-KRG, has also ended up in Ragazzo Insaat Malzemeleri. We learned, however, from ImportGenius, an international trade database based on customs records, that Ragazzo Insaat Malzemeleri exported electrical equipment to Ukraine in 2025.

Until the publication of this investigation, Sobit Israilov, the nominal owner of Ragazzo, had not responded to RISE’s request for an interview. Neither did the Turkish businessman, Zafer Halidi.

SHOR’S TRAVELS, UNDER THE INTERPOL RADAR

In 2023, the INTERPOL issued a Red Notice for the location, arrest, and extradition Ilan Shor. In February 2024, Moldova’s General Police Inspectorate (GPI) publicly communicated that it had been notified by INTERPOL Jerusalem that Ilan Shor had left the territory of Israel on January 7, 2024, heading towards the United Arab Emirates.

“Information was immediately requested from the INTERPOL BNC Abu Dhabi, as well as assistance from the INTERPOL General Secretariat, but the entry of the subject into the territory of that country had not been confirmed by UAE authorities,” the statement said. 

The GPI also announced that Shor held citizenship of the Russian Federation too.

RISE Moldova requested the GPI to acknowledge whether it was in possession of formal notifications, alerts, or other official information from the INTERPOL, from February 2024 to present, regarding Ilan Shor. 

It was confirmed by Israel that Shor last crossed its border on February 25, 2024, leaving the country. Since then, the Moldovan authorities have not received other notifications through INTERPOL. However, “there are reports that he is the Russian Federation.”