The searches at the head offices of “MoldovaGaz”, “ChisinauGaz” and one more economic entity and at the offices and domiciles of officials of these companies were carried out within two criminal cases started over abuse of power, money laundering and illegal entrepreneurial activities, IPN reports.

According to the prosecutors, the two companies illegally supplied gas to an entrepreneur and to private individuals through intermediaries. Damage of 31 million lei was thus caused and this money was included in the gas bills paid by end-users.

Prosecutor Vitalie Busuioc said decision makers of the companies employed a criminal scheme to earn money. The intermediary companies founded by “MoldovaGaz” and “ChisinauGaz” illegally supplied large amounts of gas that weren’t indicated in the bookkeeping records. To hide the traces, the decision makers declared these supplies as losses, which were included in the tariff and were paid by end-users.

It is also presumed that the foreign currency purchased to pay for the gas supplied to Moldova was bought at higher exchange rates than those set by the Moldovan banks, while the profit was divided between those that employed the scheme. There are suspicions that the officials bought meters and other devices at prices that were three times higher than the market ones.

In the morning of November 26 and in the course of the day, the head offices of SA “MoldovaGaz” and “ChisinauGaz” SRL and the homes of decision makers of the two companies, including of the president of “MoldovaGaz” Alexandru Gusev, were searched.