The joint stock company “Moldovagaz”, in which the Government of Moldova owns a shareholding of over 35%, purchases natural gas also for the Transnistrian region, which hasn’t paid for the consumed gas since 1990. Thus, huge debts to the Russian company “Gazprom” accumulated, experts Victor Parlicov and Sergiu Tofilat said in an online debate staged by the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives “Viitorul” in partnership with Radio Free Europe. According to them, purchasing afterward electricity produced with unpaid Russian gas from Transnistria, the Moldovan end-users indirectly finance the separatism in the own country, IPN reports.
Victor Parlicov said that a scheme to purchase natural gas by “Moldovagaz” has been employed since 1990. “Moldovagaz” imports the whole volume of gas from “Gazprom”, including for the Transnistrian region. “The debts accumulate because not “Gazprom” provides gas directly to Transnistria, but “Molovagaz”. We can say that this company provides services to legalize the activity of “Gazprom” in the Transnistrian region,” he stated.
As to the debts to “Gazprom”, the expert said that no one has a solution to the reached situation now.
Sergiu Tofilat explained that there are two sides of the debt – the debt of “Moldovagaz” to “Gazprom”, which is reflected in the financial accounts of the Russian company, and the debt dating from 2005, which “Gazpromul” ceded to one of its subdivisions. “Which is the realty and which of the debts are paid – of the right or of the left side of the Nistru – we don’t know. There are used figures finished by the accounting department of “Moldovagaz”, which is not controlled,” he stated.
According to the expert, the Transnistrian side during many years hasn’t paid for the consumed gas. Furthermore, all the collected money is used to finance the separatist regime and to cover the budget-related costs of the Transnistrian region. Thus, the money paid by the end-users from the region, instead of reaching the company “Tiraspoltransgaz”, is transferred to a budget account of the Transnistrian administration and is classed as debt of the Transnistrian budget to “Tiraspoltransgaz”.
