PAS MP Mihai Popșoi said that the residents from the northern districts of the country now pay higher tariffs for water and electricity and the answers to the question “why?” are at the Prosecutor General’s Office that recently started to determine the legality of the contract to import electricity from Ukraine that was signed in 2008. The checks were launched on May 5 after Prosecutor General Alexandr Stoianoglo annulled the ordinance not to take legal action over this case that was made by prosecutors in 2017. The schemes in the energy sector didn’t disappear, but advanced with cynicism, impudence and impunity, IPN reports.
The MP noted that this is a case with which Plahotniuc probably blackmailed Dodon, together with other cases. The PGO restarted the case and is accumulating evidence for adopting a legal solution in this case. If the PGO is free in its actions, ex-President Igor Dodon, as the ex-president of the PDM, will be investigated in the case concerning the intermediation of the fraudulent electricity importation scheme of 2008.
According to Mihai Popșoi this business was exposed by a journalistic investigation. The information provided by the Service for the Prevention and Combating of Money Laundering shows that half of the money reached Plahtoniuc. In 2017, a group of energy experts analyzed the intermediation schemes disclosed by journalistic investigations in 2008, when Igor Dodon served as minister of economy, while Zinaida Grechanyi as Prime Minister. On June 1, 2008, the Republic of Moldova bought electrical energy from Ukraine for 4.4 cents, up 10% compared with the previous tariff, and the then deputy prime minister Igor Dodon announced the new price as a remarkable success, arguing that initially the Ukrainian side asked for a 50% rise.
It was yet rumored in Chisinau that the price was raised in the interests of firms registered in Ukraine, which were managed by high-ranking officials from Moldova and Ukraine. As a result of negotiations, a private partner was included in the scheme to import electrical energy from Ukraine. Energy experts meanwhile obtained official information from the National Agency for Energy Regulation, which showed that during a year the intermediary company made a profit of over US$14.5 million. Those schemes continue to be implemented. On the right side of the Nistru, the electricity tariff is 1.5 lei/KWh or 2 lei, while on the left side is 0.50-0.70 lei.
Contacted by IPN for a comment, spokeswoman for the PSRM Carmena Sterpu said that campaigning, some of the election contenders dare to disseminate false information, aberrations and ordinary lies. “The time of empty words will soon end and the time of concrete deeds and also of explanations for undelivered promises will come and PAS will seriously disappoint the citizens,” stated the spokeswoman.
