The Chisinau Municipal Council (CMC) on December 24 rejected a number of petitions from the Prosecutor’s Office Chisinau demanding that the earlier decisions to distribute for free or lease plots of land made by the Chisinau City Hall and CMC be cancelled. The Prosecutor’s Office said that the plots were allocated not in accordance with the legislation as there were organised no direct talks or auctions. It also said that the construction companies did not fulfil the obligation to transfer 10% of the built apartments to the local authorities. Alexandru Tanase, leader of the Liberal-Democratic faction, criticized the way in which the legal division proposed rejecting the applications of the Prosecutor’s Office. The informative notes attached to the draft decisions concerning the examination of the given petitions said that the public authorities have the right to decide to grant plots of land and that such decisions were made with the aim of encouraging the construction in the municipality, activity that was stagnant until 2004. Alexandru Tanase said that these arguments can be used in a discussion, but not as reason for making such decisions, as this is against the legislation. However, Tanase said that the applications must be rejected because they came with delay, in some cases of up to six years. The constructions had been long ago completed and the apartments sold. By cancelling a decision we will not solve the problem, but will create a new one, the councillor said. Tanase stressed that the local authorities should observe the legislation on the allocation of land in order to avoid such situations in the future. He also asked the Prosecutor’s Office to investigate the cases and hold the persons to blame accountable. CMC chairman Mihai Ghimpu promised to deal with this problem together with the deputy mayor in charge of the municipal construction sector Nistor Grozavu. “The people need apartments and the City Hall needs money. Those who want to do business should act in accordance with the market economy,” Ghimpu said, quoted by Info-Prim Neo.