Independent audit of oil market can affect customs, economic experts

The independent audit of the oil market may affect first of all the customs, consider economic analysts who were asked by www.vedomosti.md to pronounce on Prime Minister Vlad Filat's proposal to invite a foreign audit company to study the trade in gasoline and diesel oil and the formation of prices of these fuels. The Premier implied that he does not trust the inspection bodies of Moldova, Info-Prim Neo reports. “I personally don not know what illegalities there may be. I think it is not right. The foreign company can make the study, but what does the customs service do then? How is the fuel smuggled? If the study shows that the fuel is smuggled, the customs will be to blame. The head of the customs service represents the Liberal Democratic Party that is headed by the Premier,” said economic expert Alexandru Tanas. “I do not think that contraband is smuggled through Transnistria. There are checkpoints there. It was possible to illegally import large quantities of fuel through the left bank of the Nistru, but at the start of the 1990s not now.” Economic analyst Dmitrii Calac said he cannot say if the oil products are smuggled. “I think illegalities can be committed in documents. For example, instead of 100 tonnes of fuel there are indicated 120 tonnes. But this should be proven. The customs is to blame when the quantities do not correspond as it allows the importer to cross the border. If the importer falsified the documents and the customs authorities did not manage to check them thoroughly, it is the importer that should be held accountable,” he stated. Valeriu Prohnitski, economic exert of the think-tank “ExpertGrup”, believes that if the Premier said it, smuggling exists. “It will be hard to identify those who are to blame as corruption has deep roots in many sectors. The foreign experts will probably perform an efficient audit as there are no sufficient capacities for such an audit in Moldova. Furthermore, they will be impartial and there will be no conflicts of interest,” he said.