Moldovagaz has to undergo a serious audit and an analysis of the feasibility of its costs for many years - Maia Sandu.
The President of Moldova said this while answering journalists' questions at a press conference on Friday. The head of state expressed regret that for 20 years the Accounts Chamber had not been able to audit Moldovagaz, even when it was allowed by the law, after the adoption of the relevant amendments after 2017. “We all read in the analytical materials of journalistic investigations about violations, abuse and unjustified expenses of Moldovagaz for many years. Now the debts that Gazprom presents to us are also under a big question mark, very doubtful due to the poor management of Moldovagaz. I believe that control by the Accounts Chamber is needed for this entire period, we suspect that there have been many violations,” the President of the country noted. While speaking about the current leadership of Moldovagaz, Maia Sandu noted that it is important to analyze its actions during the audit. Referring to the issue of the Moldovan side making changes to the formula for calculating the gas price by Gazprom in January 2021, which subsequently led to a significant increase in the cost of gas, the head of state said that it was difficult for her to assess what had happened and say whether any mistakes were made in the forecasts or there were some bad intentions. “When the formula changed, summer gas prices were lower and we can assume that the intention was good. If the trend continued, there would be a lower gas price this summer. But, since during the Covid-19 period the economic activity decreased, and then after the crisis was over, the demand for gas increased sharply, and its supply was low, lagging behind, we had a different situation, and in the summer - prices instead of declining - grew. As a result, Moldova paid much more for gas in summer and September. We can discuss the manager's ability to make a market forecast and see if it was good intentions or not, because now we know it was not a good forecast,” said Maia Sandu. The President of the Republic of Moldova said that during the audit, Moldovagaz wants to see an analysis of the decisions of the company's management on costs, to find out whether they were justified or not, whether it was possible to save money, avoid excessive costs of this large company, since they were then taken into account when determining tariffs. “We need a serious analysis. According to the formula, there were possibly erroneous forecasts. In March-April, we also expect gas prices to decrease, but it is not clear what will happen in the end. It's hard to speak now. Forecasting is always thankless and never easy. But in the administration of Moldovagaz it is important to exclude unreasonable expenses,” said Maia Sandu. // 19.11.2021- InfoMarket.
