The termination of the contract for the building of pay parking lots in Chisinau with EME Parkleitsystem could cost the municipality €200 million. Mayor of Chisinau Dorin Chirtoaca told a news conference that the company could sue the municipality for damages in this amount, IPN reports.

The mayor noted the municipality will repeatedly inform the company about the termination of the contract and will request the National Anticorruption Center to investigate the signatories of the contract from abroad. The Supreme Court of Justice will be asked to clarify the order of the examination of the relevant civil and criminal cases as these run concurrently and this is absurd.

Dorin Chirtoaca noted that the pay parking lots project was launched in 2014, when a working group was created to manage this project. A tender contest was then announced to choose a company to create the parking system and the contest was held one year later. In 2015, the Chisinau Municipal Council was presented the draft decision on the endorsement of the contract, but this wasn’t approved and a lawsuit was thus filed. Though the trial continued, information appeared about the signing of the contract. The law provides that the contract should be signed after it is approved by the Council. The Supreme Court of Justice will thus decide if the contract is valid or not, while the responsible functionaries will explain how things went.

In another development, the mayor said the post of head of the Transport Division will be held by the head of Centru district Oleg Poiata on an interim basis.

Last week, seven persons were arrested on corruption charges in the case of the pay parking lots that were to be set up in Chisinau. Among those arrested are the deputy mayor Nistor Grozavu and head of the Public Transport and Communications Division Igor Gamretski. The first was placed under house arrest, while the second is held in Penitentiary No. 13.