The state-owned enterprises and joint stock companies with state capital face serious shortcomings related to transparency, while the salaries of managers are often not in line with the company’s revenues. On December 8, Transparency International – Moldova (TI–Moldova), in a news conference at IPN, presented a report on the monitoring of transparency at state-owned and joint stock companies with state capital.
TI – Moldova expert who compiled the report Ianina Spinei said about 1/3 of the public authorities that manage state-owned enterprises provided the asked for information later than the deadlines stipulated in the Law on Access to Information. Some of the authorities restricted the information that the companies can offer. It was established that particular kinds of activity, services provided and works performed by companies seem improper to their specific activity, while the carrying out of these activities can cause unfair competition to private entrepreneurs. For example, the state-run Information Resources Center “Registru” stages foreign languages and computer courses, transports and distributes special correspondence, does technical-scientific research, etc.
As regards the company managers and their salaries, Ianina Spinei said even if all the monitored companies indicated the manager, about ¼ of them didn’t specify the pay of this, invoking the personal character of the data or offering an evasive answer. But the manager’s salary is not personal information. At a series of companies that in 2015 sustained net losses, the managers received considerable pays, such as the airline “Air Moldova”, IS “Calea Ferata Moldova” (“Moldova’s Railways”), IS “Moldaeroservice”, Cricova Wine Complex Etc. Despite the large losses suffered by some of the companies, the members of their Boards continue to collect significant monthly remunerations.
The Boards of some of the companies include a rather large number of representatives of the founder, which is against the law. Ianina Spinei said this is rather a method of remunerating loyal persons, not a measure of increasing control over the company’s work.
Even if the enterprises are obliged to ensure transparency in public procurement, only each eighth company presented purchase plans or indicated their source of publication. Approximately 40% of the enterprises didn’t indicate the value of the made purchases. Only about 40% of the companies published announcements or invitations to biddings and only one enterprise published detailed data about the results of the procurement process.
The project within which the study was carried out envisions cooperation with investigative journalists. In this connection, the newspaper “Ziarul de Garda” published two investigations about the situation at state-owned and joint stock companies with state capital. Journalist of the paper Anatolie Esanu said the investigation into the situation at the air traffic services authority “Moldatsa” showed the salaries of flight operators were cut for the reason that the funds were insufficient. Meanwhile, the company’s administration bought three luxury cars and contracted more expensive insurance services than other bids.
The study was conducted within the project “Promotion of responsibility and transparency at state-owned enterprises” that is supported by the National Endowment for Democracy. It covered 67 enterprises managed by 14 public authorities.
