Oxana Demchenko, a woman from Ukraine who founded the company SRL “Gările Auto Moderne” (“Modern Bus Stations”), said the state’s decision to terminate the public-private partnership contract on the modernization of bus stops and terminals violates the rights of investors and flouts the contract itself. The company filed three lawsuits against the Public Property Agency (PPA). The founder calls on President Maia Sandu to turn her attention to this case and not to allow the rights of investors to be violated.
In a news conference hosted by IPN, Oxana Demchenko said that she is from Donetsk region that she had to leave after the events of 2014. In 2018, she started her entrepreneurial activity in Moldova. “I chose the Republic of Moldova because I was then sure that it is a state in which one can invest and develop businesses. I was sure that it is a state in which the law rules and in which the rights of investors are respected,” stated Oxana Demchenko. She noted that after the Russian invasion launched on February 24 this year she had to leave Ukraine. She moved to Moldova and is now a refugee.
The woman has been a shareholder of “Gările Auto Moderne” since 2019 and since then she has taken an active part in the modernization of the network of bus stations. She said that everyone remembers how the bus stations looked earlier and see the change now even if the modernization process is not over.
According to the investor, the Public Property Agency didn’t have any argument or legal reason to terminate the concession contract. “The contract could have been terminated only if there was a court decision. There is no such a decision yet. We consider the PPA has a biased attitude to us, the investors,” said Oxana Demchenko.
In connection with the restrictions imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the company repeatedly asked the Public Property Agency to renew its investment obligations. More exactly, it asked to allow postponing the implementation of the plans for 2021 and 2022 for a year, respectively until 2022 and 2023. Many of the companies were supported by the state during by the pandemic, but their demands were ignored.
Oxana Demchenko called upon President Maia Sandu and upon the diplomatic corps to examine this situation as there were no reasons to terminate the contract.
Iurie Moroz, “Gările Auto Moderne” manager, said that during three years that included the pandemic, the company made investments of over 120 million lei in state assets. It paid over 80 million lei taxes. “During this three-year period, the state benefitted from direct investment and from taxes totaling over 200 million lei. The decision to unilaterally end the contract that was taken by decision makers of the PPA based on the alleged non-observance of the conditions of the contract, in the absence of court decisions, is illegal,” stated Iurie Moroz.
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