Stéphane Christophe Bridé

Stéphane Christophe Bridé (born 30 September 1971 in Dakar) is the current Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Moldova. He is a French citizen who has held dual Moldovan/French nationality since 26 December 2013. He has more than 20 years experience working as an accountant, auditor and consultant in management and fiscal policy.
Bridé is married to Olesea, a Moldovan woman with whom he has one child. In addition to his native French, he is fluent in Romanian, English and Spanish.
In 2005 he became the Moldovan motocross champion. In 2008 Bridé was part of Moldova's team at the European Motorcross Championship in Zărnești, Romania. He also holds a black belt in judo.
Bridé was one of the managing partners of Grant Thornton in Moldova. Grant Thornton was the auditor of the three Moldovan banks involved in the Moldovan bank fraud scandal. The theft was discovered in November 2014 at Unibank, Banca de Economii and Banca Sociala, which Grant Thornton audited in 2011 and 2013. The money was embezzled and spirited out of the country in complex financial transactions, some through UK companies. The authorities had to rescue the three banks with a bailout equivalent to half the annual budget.