Municipal councillor warns about lobby in favour of Austrian company

A presidential counsellor and the independent councillor of the Chisinau Municipal Council (CMC) Mihai Severovan, with the support of the former interim mayor, Vasile Ursu, stand behind the deal with the Austrian company “EPA MEDIA” concerning the building and illumination of stations, together with the possibility of placing outdoor advertisement, stated the councillor representing “Moldova Noastra” Alliance faction, Oleg Cernei within the frameworks of today’s session of the CMC, Info-Prim Neo reports. In his public interpellation, addressing the Municipal Public Prosecutor’s Office and the City Hall leadership, the AMN councillor stated that the Austrian firm won the tender for building 300 public waiting stations in Chisinau and posting advertisement panels with serious violations of the legislation, due to a lobby. As such, on November 28, 2006, CMC decided to announce an investment tender, appointing a commission for examining projects, headed by Veaceslav Iordan, deputy mayor at that time. The commission was to present the CMC the Regulations on posting advertisement in the municipality and make proposals concerning the investment offer of the “EPA MEDIA”. By ignoring the legislation concerning the established terms for organising a tender, as well as the CMC decision, Ursu concluded a contract with “EPA MEDIA” on behalf of the “City Hall”, a body which doesn’t exist, Cernei claims. This way, Ursu offered the company the right to install 1500 big panels, 600 smaller panels and advertisement on all the pillars of the municipality, Cernei says. The contract, having a 10 year term, says that in case the “City Hall” cancels the contract, it is obliged to pay the company back the whole sum of the investment. According to Cernei, the owner of “EPA MEDIA”, which was opened on October 25, 2006, is a citizen residing in Vienna, Born in Braila, owner of an apartment in Chisinau. The AMN councillor added that 4 world renowned companies warned about the way in which this tender was held. At the same time, he requested the Municipal Prosecutor’s Office to investigate this case, which he qualified as “corruption” and CMC to discuss this issue in the today’s session. When approving the CMC agenda, the item didn’t pass because it was rejected by the communist councillors. Earlier, referring to the winner of the tender, Vasile Ursu stated that local companies didn’t participate in the tender because of “the too tough participation conditions and the municipality’s demanding requirements”. He also said that it was impossible to cooperate with that kind of companies which, as he claimed, “do not contribute to the budget and do not bring anything useful to the city”.