The audit mission initiated by the government should analyze all the factors that contributed to the unjustified accumulation of the right bank’s gas debt. The Party of Change suggests examining the privatization of gas pipelines at derisory prices, the payment of Transnistria’s debt at the expense of the Republic of Moldova, the abusive distribution of revenues from the transit of gas and the frauds committed at Moldovagaz starting with 1998, when the company was founded.
In the absence of an audit at SA Moldovagaz, the unjustified costs will be included in the gas rate that will be paid by the citizens of the Republic of Moldova, Ștefan Gligor, president of the Party of Change, stated in a news conference hosted by IPN. If only the gas debt of the right side of the Nistru is audited, over 2 billion lei will be included in citizens’ bills during the next five years.
“To discover the truth, to determine how much money is owed and to whom, an audit of the compliance of the joint stock company Moldovagaz is needed and not only the debts of the right bank should be audited, as the protocol of October 29 provides. To do this, there should be analyzed a broader context. We must assess the situation starting with the founding of SA Moldovagaz so as to elucidate those frauds, those illegalities and violations committed in the period. At the end, we should have clarity and transparency as to the work of SA Moldovagaz and it is clear what the size of the real debts is and who owes and how much,” stated Ștefan Gligor.
Energy expert Sergiu Tofilat, a member of the economic group of the Party of Change, said that when Moldovagaz was founded in 1998, the new company was signed over the gas mains owned by Gazsnabtranzit. “Gazprom owned 50% of the shares of Gazsnabtranzit. This holding was raised by US$33 million. We see point 6 of Government Decision No. 1068 of 1998. Gazprom was practically donated US$33 million lei and the debt of the right bank wasn’t cut by this amount,” stated Sergiu Tofilat. He noted there were applied so-called barter schemes for paying the gas debt where a series of violations were committed and it is not known how the services and goods paid by the right bank were used to clear the debt.
As a result of the abusive conditions imposed by Gazprom, through the contract of December 1993 (by which the price was raised from US$38.5 to US$80 and delay penalties of 0.35% a day were imposed) and after the left bank stopped to make payments, the gas debt in January-December 1994 grew from US$22.2 million to US$290.8 million, said Tudor Șoitu, another member of the party’s economic group. According to the documents concerning the payments for January 1998, about US$130.2 million of the money allocated by the Government of the Republic of Moldova was used by Gazprom to settle the debt of the left bank.
Given the complexity of the problems, the audit cannot be completed by May 1, 2022, as it was agreed during Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Spînu’s visit to Moscow. This period should be extended until the end of 2022 by common consent with the Russian side in the next meeting of the joint intergovernmental commission, said Ion Potlog, vice president of the Party of Change.
The audit report should be the main instrument of negotiation with Gazprom for solving the gas debt issue by amicable ways. If the sides do not reach a consensus, there should be considered the possibility of initiating international arbitration based on the precedents set by Naftogaz Ukraine and PGNiG Poland, stated the representatives of the Party of Change.
