
The Public Property Agency will hold direct negotiations with international companies for an independent audit of Moldovagaz's debts to Gazprom and Factoring Finance.
This follows from the relevant order, which was adopted by the Commission of Emergency Situations. The document mentions that, in order to carry out an independent audit of the debt for gas supplied to consumers on the right bank of the Dniester River, the Public Property Agency has been assigned to buy services of independent audit of the debt, by using direct negotiations procedure, without prior publication of the notice on participation, in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Public Procurement. It is stipulated that the Public Property Agency will submit the public procurement contract concluded with the economic operator, recognized as the winner of the procedure, to the Commission for Emergency Situations immediately, but not later than 24 hours after the award of the procurement contract. Eugen Cozonac, general director of the Public Property Agency (APP), said the APP will begin these negotiations immediately in order to have the audit done by the end of this year. According to him, the re-tender procedure is based on a revised specification, based on the recommendations received from companies that expressed interest in participating in the previous tender, which started in January but was canceled due to the expiration of the deadline for submitting the result. As we said earlier Moldovan authorities wanted to choose an audit company that would not only find out the exact amount of Moldovagaz' historical debt to Gazprom and Factoring Finance for the natural gas supplied to consumers on the right bank of Nistru River, but also the factors that generated this debt. But the tender, in fact, failed because the companies did not participate in it after the start of the war in Ukraine, the introduction of the state of emergency and the closure of airspace. Moldovan authorities had earlier asked Gazprom to postpone the previously agreed deadline of May 1, 2022 for an audit and signing an agreement to settle this debt. But no official reply has been received. // 14.07.2022 - InfoMarket