The examination of the report on the concession of the state assets in the case of the Chisinau International Airport revealed that there are no reasons for annulling the contract with the lessee Avia-Invest, MP Anatolie Zagorodnyi, a member of the commission of inquiry, announced in the December 8 sitting of Parliament. He said that a possible termination of the concession contract would mean the return by the entity that leased out the airport, which is the Government, of the sum of €46 million, which was invested by the company so far in the modernization of the airport, IPN reports.
The commission of inquiry established that the airport’s infrastructure was maintained with difficulty with the own financial resources and could not be modernized. The security of passengers was thus in danger. However, the concession procedures didn’t fully meet the legal norms, given the way in which the closed bidding was held. Also, the regulations concerning the setting of airport taxes and other tariffs are inadequate. It was established that the introduction of the modernization tax was justified, being envisioned also by the International Civil Aviation Organization.
The commission recommends the Government to ensure the examination of possibilities of launching the procedure for renegotiating the contract for leasing out the Chisinau International Airport and the adjoining area so as to review the share capital of the lessee. The Prosecutor General’s Office and the National Anticorruption Center are requested to examine and appraise the responsibility of the employees of the central public authorities who took part in the concession of the airport and, if need be, to apply the law.
Last week, four MPs of the commission of inquiry presented an alternative report as they didn’t agree with the main report. Under the alternative report, the concession contract must be renegotiated. The regulations and nominal composition of the commission that monitors the concession should be reviewed so as to clearly and coherently define its objectives.
The alternative report provides that the airport is a profitable and strategic business and was leased out without conducting a feasibility study or, more exactly, the study was carried out after the decision to concede the airport was taken. The lessee was chosen in non-transparent conditions and the clauses of the concession contract are non-compliant.
The Chisinau International Airport and the adjoining area were leased out in 2013 for a period of 49 years to a Russian company whose administration board included controversial businessman Ilan Shor, current mayor of Orhei.
