A political party freshly rebranded as Save Bessarabia Union (USB) is demanding that the Ministry of Economy and the Government make public all the contracts signed by Moldova since 2009 for purchase of electricity with Transnistria and Ukraine through the intermediary firm Energocapital.
The leader of USB Valeriu Munteanu declared in a press conference that society needs to know all the contract clauses that are now secret.
Valeriu Munteanu claims that in addition to the ACUM-PSRM coalition-founding agreement that was made public, there is also a series of secret protocols, and one of them is titled “The Cuciurgan Protocol.”
“The biggest ongoing corruption scheme in Moldova is the theft perpetrated through imports of electricity through Energocapital, an offshore company of Vlad Plahotniuc,” stated Valeriu Munteanu.
According to Munteanu, Energocapital is “picking Moldovans’ pockets” even two months after “the shameful run” of the former PDM leader.
“The contracts of Cuciurgan (power plant) are a secret agreement between the oligarchs from Chisinau and Tiraspol, controlled by Moscow. Each side owns an offshore company with the aim to get rich on Moldovans’ backs,” added Valeriu Munteanu.
The politician estimates the scheme is siphoning some $20 million off of electricity imports every month.
USB Secretary General Ilie Crețu said that today 80% of the electricity is bought from the Transnistrian region and it is disappointing and no one is interested in changing the situation.
Catalina Covalenco, a USB member, said that the focus should be on importing electricity from Romania. For this, it is necessary to implement the energy interconnection project with Romania, known as the Isaccea-Vulcanesti project, for which the Moldovan Parliament secured a financing agreement with the EBRD and the EIB last summer.
Last Sunday, the European Action Movement party held an extraordinary convention to rename itself as the Save Bessarabia Union and elect the former Liberal minister and MP Valeriu Munteanu as its president.
