A number of civil society representatives made a call to the authorities, requesting them to determine the legality of the financial transactions of the Transnistrian company “Energocapital” in offshore areas through the banking system of Moldova. It is about transactions to the value of almost US$20 million. The money was reportedly transferred to Hong Kong. In a news conference at IPN, energy experts said this money come from the payments made by Transnistrian consumers for electricity.

““Energocapital” sells electric power to us. We pay for it, but they do not pay for gas and this money goes to offshore areas,” stated energy expert Sergiu Tofilat. According to him, the profit of “Energocapital” in 2015 was of almost US$39 million, nearly US$20 million of which was taken out of the country.

Sergiu Tofilat considers the implementation of this scheme was possible only with the support of the Moldovan authorities because “Energocapital” was reregistered in October 2014 and obtained a license during only three days.

“The license is issued by the National Agency for Energy Regulation. It’s thus clear that the Agency is involved. The contract for the supply of electricity was signed with the state-owned company “Energocom”, which is managed by the Ministry of Economy. So, the Ministry’s involvement is also clear,” stated the expert, noting that the scheme by which the billion was taken out of the country is also used to steal the money paid by the energy consumers of Moldova.

Energy expert Victor Parlicov said the inspection authorities should check if the given transactions to transfer money to offshore areas through the banking system of Moldova do not violate the legislation that regulate the fight against money laundering. The authorities should also determine who the final beneficiaries of these transactions are.

The information to which the experts make reference became known following conflicts of power on the left bank of the Nistru. “As a result of a kind of information leak on the left bank of the Nistru owing to the conflicts there, we found out particular things that should normally be discovered by our constitutional authorities,” stated Victor Parlicov.

The call was signed by a number of nongovernmental organizations, including the Institute for Public Policy, the Resource Center for Human Rights, the Institute for European Politics and Reforms and the Independent Analytical Center “Expert-Group”.