The entire process, as well as the concession contract of Chisinau International Airport, have been affected by conditions of nullity. The seriousness of the flagrant violation of the law results also from the decision by which the Government decided to organize a closed tender, while the law says that it must be public. At the same time, the non-performance of contractual obligations by the concessionaire or the breach of contractual obligations provide the possibility of terminating the concession contract. The conclusions can be found in the preliminary report presented on Tuesday, September 17, at the meeting of the Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry for the analysis of the organization and conduct of the privatization and the concession of public property during the years 2013-2019, IPN reports.
One of the consultants, Eduard Digore, said that this was a legal analysis, based on the documents made available by the Committee of Inquiry and on the found facts. According to the expert, the decision to organize a closed tender for the selection of the concessionaire triggered the failure of the entire procedure. The tender commission delegated part of its tasks, which were quite important, to the Airport, although it had no right to do so. Under these conditions, it is not known whether the security of submitted bids was ensured. The state was responsible for this aspect, but did not deal with it. The fact that the winning bid was declared based on false information generated several disputes, including complaints to the Constitutional Court, which subsequently suspended the Government's decisions. But the government reconfirmed its decision concerning the concession.
As for the committee in charge of supervising the activity within the Airport, says the consultant, it met only once a year, but not quarterly, according to the provisions. The conclusions of the supervisory structure were based only on the information presented by the concessionaire, but there were no visits on site. According to him, all this leads to the possibility of termination of the concession contract on grounds of non-performance of contractual obligations or on grounds of breach of contractual obligations. “The main obligation was to make some investments of their own at certain contractual phases. From the information held, the concessionaire did not honour his obligations on time regarding the first stage of carrying out works and making personal investments”, noted Eduard Digore.
At the same meeting, the preliminary report on the legality of the privatization of "Air Moldova" airline company was presented. "During 2017-2018, the impression was given that" Air Moldova "was on the verge of bankruptcy and had to be urgently alienated. Yet, the whole process of privatization seemed routine, as if representatives of the state regularly sold companies the size of "Air Moldova". However, the sale-purchase contract was signed on October 2, when the state representatives and the bidder's representatives made some ambitious statements, among which the fact that by the end of 2019, seven new routes would be launched. Now we see that there are no such routes,” said Victor Neaga, another consultant.
According to him, the post-privatization monitoring was also conducted at the lowest level. It was found that there were no major differences between the situation before and after the privatization of the company. The previous debts of "Air Moldova" have not been paid. "The experts' conclusions are that the purpose of privatization has not been achieved and there are reasonable suspicions that the state property has been misappropriated and then privatized with serious procedural violations," said Victor Neaga.
Igor Munteanu, chairman of the Committee says that after the Committee will have taken note of the two reports, they will be submitted at the Parliament's plenary, within 7-10 days. In the near future, a report on auto stations will be presented.
