The municipality risks being dispossessed of a 3ha plot of land in Râșcani district of the capital city, which is worth more than 100 million lei. The Chisinau City Hall said that actions are being taken to embezzle municipal property through fraudulent schemes, IPN reports.
“During the years 2014-2024, through the actions of individuals and legal entities, but also through the decisions adopted by particular public authorities and courts, the embezzlement of municipal property is pursued. It is a plot of land with an area of over 3 hectares located in Râșcani district of Chisinau municipality, adjacent to Ceucari and Doina streets. The value of this land is over 100 million lei,” deputy mayor Irina Gutnic said at a press conference.
According to her, the lot on which several buildings are located is under the management of the joint stock company “Autocomtrans” in which the Chisinau Municipal Council holds a majority shareholding of 58%. In 2014, insolvency proceedings were brought against this company. “Within the insolvency process, particular persons pursue the goal of appropriating the given lot, with the full support of the State Tax Inspectorate that, through its actions and decisions, in 2014, ceded the receivables to legal entities and not to the Chisinau City Hall, which is the most interested party in this process,” explained Irina Gutnic.
The official noted that within the insolvency process, in order to protect the patrimony, in 2018 the local public authority cleared the 4 million lei debt of JSC “Autocomtrans”. Thus, the company became active and all the assets remained the municipality’s property. The 4 million lei paid by the City Hall was to be converted into shares and, respectively, the municipality was to hold a 98% shareholding.
“At the end of 2019, the management bodies of JSC “Autocomtrans”, which included former and current municipal councilors, current MPs of the ruling party – we have this list of members of the management bodies, including Vasile Grădinaru, Zinaida Popa, Roman Roșca, Roman Cojuhari – didn’t take any measure to protect the interests of the company in order to repay the debt or convert it into shares. I was saying that the CMC owned 58% of the shares and, if the management bodies acted and converted this debt, the CMC would have held 98% of the shares. Respectively, the Chisinau Municipal Council remained with a loan of 4 million lei that was allocated to the company and with only 58% of the shares,” related Irina Gutnic.
According to the deputy mayor, at the beginning of 2021, again through the actions of individuals and legal entities, insolvency proceedings was instituted repeatedly and the state, through the Tax Inspectorate, requested the payment of debts in the amount of 3 million lei, which were again ceded to legal entities and not to the Chisinau City Hall. Throughout the period between 2021 and until now, the City Hall has taken actions to avoid the embezzlement of municipal property, but, unfortunately, through the courts, the bankruptcy procedure was approved and the sale of goods belonging to JSC “Autocomtrans” in order to clear the debts was accepted, including this lot that is hunted by a lot of people.
“As I said, this lot is worth over 100 million lei. The embezzlement continues. For this reason, we asked the insolvency administrator to satisfy the mayor general’s request to cancel the auction that has already launched and was announced for June 28, at which the assets managed by JSC “Autocomtrans” are to be sold. The City Hall, in order to protect the assets, allocated about 8 million lei in the budget. If these assets are sold at the auction on June 28, it will be impossible to recover them and these actions will directly lead to the liquidation of the company,” said Irina Gutnic.
The deputy mayor also said that the law enforcement agencies were notified of this raider attack on municipal property, but no action has been taken so far.
