President Igor Dodon had information about the replacement of the owner of Avia Invest beforehand and this transaction couldn’t have been performed if the businessman hadn’t been sure that the given project is viable. Such assurances could have come only from those who manage the political, economic and decision-making processes, said Transparency International Moldova expert Veaceslav Negruța.
“The situation was similar in 2013 when the Shor group entered the airport through the so-called company from Khabarovsk. Later the owners were changed for several times,” the expert was quoted by IPN as saying in the talk show “Expertise hour” on Jurnal TV channel.
WatchDog expert Sergiu Tofilat said the government in 2013 decided to concede the airport for a tax of €9 that is paid by each passenger and this ensures stable revenues for the airport manager. During the 49-year lease, the revenues from this tax were to total €700 million, while Avia Invest projected to make investments of €240 million. ”It’s easy to determine that those people earned money for a pension – about €460 million for the next 49 years. The reason was to control the amounts collected by this tax of €9,” he stated.
Political commentator Victor Ciobanu said this agreement by which Avia Invest was transferred to the Russian billionaire is definitely a criminal one. In such cases, a contract is signed directly with service providers. “In our country, all the dubious transactions were performed through offshore firms so as to muddy the waters. The shareholders are changed even if the Republic of Moldova nullified this contract and appealed against it. But nothing depends on us already as the structure of the concession was criminal from the start,” he stated, noting the current owner could give up controlling the business and another investor could appear.
On December 23, the press reported that Russian businessman Andrey Goncharenko became the new beneficiary of Komaksavia Airport Invest” Ltd that owns 95% of Avia-Invest – the manager of the Chisinau International Airport – after NR Investment Limited conceded control over the company.
