The Court of Auditors’ audit report on the signing and implementation of the contract for the concession of the Chisinau International Airport points to serious violations and abuses at the concession stage, said the chairman of the public finances control commission Igor Munteanu. According to the MP, the competent authorities should take all the possibilities to defend the interests of the state and re-include the airport in the category of strategic infrastructure facilities that cannot be passed on to other private companies. But the most important thing is to elucidate the circumstances of the dubious schemes and to identify those to blame for this unwise concession that was detrimental to the state interests, IPN reports.
The selection of the concessionaire wasn’t transparent and was made by persons who violated their professional obligations and accepted an obscure company with 5,400 lei in the account that was registered right before the tender contest. “Practically, they allowed superficial and inefficient actions to be performed – 90% of the investments were made only from the airport’s operating revenues. The money borrowed by Avia Invest represents obscure, non-transparent sources, if we speak about Panama. The goal of the concession wasn’t practically achieved by this agreement,” Igor Munteanu told a news conference.
According to him, the airport’s operating revenues were used as the decision makers desired. They lent to third parties that weren’t indicated in the concession contract and financed activities that weren’t related to the concession object. This can be considered an action to steal 1.58 billion lei from airport taxes, or the so-called modernization tax that was collected from all the passengers. The goals of the first modernization stage weren’t fully achieved and there is a big risk that the necessary investments will not be made at the next stage either.
Igor Munteanu noted the concessionaire didn’t make even 50% of the investments he was to make at the first stage. In 2017, the airport had a flow of 2.6 million passengers. The second stage was to start when such a figure was achieved, but this didn’t happen. The concession monitoring commission that includes representatives of the Public Property Agency and other state institutions didn’t carry out assessments, tolerated ambiguities concerning the concessionaire’s obligation and didn’t present the Government’s position.
According to the MP, the concession contract should be annulled owing to the procedural irregularities committed when signing it. The legislation clearly provides that the facility should be returned when a fraud is committed.
The operations and management of the Chisinau International Airport were transferred to Avia Invest in November 2013 under a public-private partnership contract valid for 49 years. The concessionaire pledged to invest €250 million in the modernization of the airport.
