Sheriff (company)

Sheriff (Russian: Шериф) is the largest company in the unrecognised breakaway state Transnistria, behind Moldova Steel Works. Based in the city of Tiraspol, it was formed in the early 1990s by Viktor Gushan and Ilya Kazmaly, former members of the KGB. Sheriff has grown to include nearly all forms of profitable business in the unrecognised country, and has even become significantly involved in local politics and sport, with some commentators saying that company loyalists hold most main government positions in the territory. Anatoly Dirun, director of the Tiraspol School of Political Studies, stated that "Viktor Gushan is the person with the most influence here, both in politics and economics."