Sheriff (company)
Encyclopedia
Transnistria
Transnistria is a breakaway territory located mostly on a strip of land between the Dniester River and the eastern Moldovan border to Ukraine...
. Formed in the early 1990s by Viktor Gushan and Ilya Kazmaly, former members of the special services, Sheriff has grown to include nearly all forms of profitable private business in this small nation, and has even become significantly involved in Transnistrian politics. Others contend that the company is truly run by Igor Smirnov
Igor Smirnov
Igor Nikolaevich Smirnov , is the President of the internationally unrecognized Pridnestrovian Moldovan Republic, also known as Transnistria. He has held this post since 1990.- Childhood :...
, the president of the secessionist republic of Transnistria, being run mafia-style, and used as a front to launder money.
Company
Supermarket
A supermarket, a form of grocery store, is a self-service store offering a wide variety of food and household merchandise, organized into departments...
s, a TV channel, a publishing house, a construction
Construction
In the fields of architecture and civil engineering, construction is a process that consists of the building or assembling of infrastructure. Far from being a single activity, large scale construction is a feat of human multitasking...
company, a Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...
dealer, an advertising agency
Advertising agency
An advertising agency or ad agency is a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising for its clients. An ad agency is independent from the client and provides an outside point of view to the effort of selling the client's products or services...
, a spirits factory, two bread
Bread
Bread is a staple food prepared by cooking a dough of flour and water and often additional ingredients. Doughs are usually baked, but in some cuisines breads are steamed , fried , or baked on an unoiled frying pan . It may be leavened or unleavened...
factories, a mobile phone
Mobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
network, the football club FC Sheriff Tiraspol
FC Sheriff Tiraspol
FC Sheriff Tiraspol is a football club based in Tiraspol, Moldova. They play in the Divizia Naţională, the top division in Moldovan football. The team is sometimes referred to as simply FC Sheriff and should not be confused with FC Tiraspol, a rival team based in the same city.-History:The club...
and its newly built Sheriff Stadium
Sheriff Stadium
Sheriff Stadium is home to Sheriff Tiraspol, a football team based in Tiraspol, capital of Transnistria, and owned by the local Sheriff corporation. It seats 14,300 spectators...
at an estimated cost of $200 million including a five-star hotel still under construction.
Political dealings
Transnistrian government policies have isolated the region from the rest of Moldova, allowing Sheriff to forge a monopoly there. This led to a time of cooperation between the government of Igor SmirnovIgor Smirnov
Igor Nikolaevich Smirnov , is the President of the internationally unrecognized Pridnestrovian Moldovan Republic, also known as Transnistria. He has held this post since 1990.- Childhood :...
and Sheriff. The company supported government policy and in return, the customs service, headed by the president's son, Vladimir Smirnov
Vladimir Smirnov
Vladimir Smirnov may refer to:*Vladimir Smirnov , Russian Bolshevik and Soviet politician*Vladimir Smirnov , Soviet mathematician*Vladimir Smirnov , Soviet geologist...
, gave Sheriff a reduction on taxes and import duties. He is also said to be a major silent partner among the leadership of the company.
As time progressed, however, Transnistria's indeterminate status has slowed the growth of Sheriff. When a new party, Renewal, was formed in 2000 with the goal of independence from Moldova, Sheriff supported them. Renewal is also known for its support of the interests of big business. Kazmaly, co-founder of Sheriff, and the company's Human Resources Director, Ilon Tyuryaeva, were both elected to parliament as members of Renewal. Oleg Smirnov, another son of the president and a member of parliament, is also among the leadership of the company.
Sheriff has used its economic clout to sway elections, by virtue of their ownership of a mobile phone network and of TSV, a local television station. In the 2005 Parliamentary elections, Renewal gained an absolute majority in the parliament, holding 23 of 43 seats. This victory ousted long-time Speaker of Parliament Grigori Maracutsa, replacing him with Renewal leader Evgeny Shevchuk, who also has strong ties to Sheriff.
Fearing a loss of power, the government of Smirnov accused Shevchuk and Sheriff of plotting a coup d'état in Transnistria. The accusation stated that Sheriff was plotting to reintegrate Transnistria with Moldova, in return for profitable business conditions for the company there. Sheriff has strongly denied these accusations, and maintains that they also desire independence from Moldova. Following multiple attacks between the two parties, Smirnov received the support of the Russian government. Since then, Shevchuk has disappeared almost entirely from the media, and has not registered to be a candidate in the December 2006 presidential election.