The company Avia Invest, affiliated with Ilan Shor—who has been irrevocably sentenced to 15 years in prison by the Court of Appeal in the bank fraud case—has lost yet another lawsuit in the first instance against the Public Property Agency (APP). In this case, the Monitoring Commission for the Concession and the Civil Aviation Authority (AAC) were involved as third parties. The ruling was pronounced on May 5 by Judge Corneliu Guzun. However, the decision can be appealed within 30 days to the Chișinău Court of Appeal. Since the airport was returned to state ownership, the company has contested dozens of decisions made by the authorities—but has not won any case so far. The team at the Center for Investigative Journalism (CIJM) has conducted numerous investigations in recent years on the concession of Chișinău Airport, uncovering schemes, vested interests, and fraudulent procedures. These investigations can be read HERE and HERE.

In January 2024, Avia Invest irrevocably lost the case against the Government of the Republic of Moldova regarding the recognition of the ruling issued by the Arbitration Tribunal of the Chamber of Commerce in Stockholm (Sweden). This decision was the starting point for the recovery of Chișinău International Airport by the state.

The Supreme Court upheld the decision of the Civil, Commercial, and Administrative Contentious Panel of the Chișinău Court of Appeal, which admitted the Government’s request against the Cypriot offshore Komaksavia Airport Invest Ltd, which owns 95% of Avia Invest. Both companies are affiliated with Ilan Shor. The Moldovan government requested the recognition of the Stockholm tribunal’s ruling, which rejected, in August 2022, Komaksavia’s claim and awarded the Republic of Moldova €216,678 to cover costs related to the arbitration procedure. The two companies were given a two-week deadline to present all their evidence to the court.

In early August 2022, the Arbitration Tribunal of the Chamber of Commerce in Stockholm rejected the claim filed by Komaksavia Airport Invest Ltd (Cyprus) against Moldova, which had sought enforcement of the concession contract or, failing that, €883.7 million in compensation for investments made.

“The tribunal ruled that Komaksavia made no investments in the assets of Chișinău International Airport. On the contrary, Komaksavia was ordered to pay Moldova’s legal costs and was also left to cover the €422,500 arbitration fees,” stated then-Minister of Justice Sergiu Litvinenco, thanking lawyer Mihai Buruiană for his efforts and results.

Chișinău International Airport (AIC) was returned to state management in March 2023. Therefore, Avia Invest, affiliated with fugitive MP Ilan Shor, convicted in the billion-dollar theft case, no longer has any ownership rights over the airport, and all assets were transferred to the state.

The concession agreement for Chișinău Airport was signed under non-transparent conditions on August 30, 2013, between the Public Property Agency and Avia Invest, which had been founded just weeks earlier (on August 2, 2013) with a capital of 85.1 million lei, divided equally between two Russian companies: Habarovsk Airport and Kolomensky Zavod.

In August 2019, MP Igor Munteanu, head of the parliamentary inquiry committee on privatization and public property, filed a complaint with the General Prosecutor's Office and the National Anticorruption Center (CNA) to investigate how the airport concession was conducted. Later, the Internal Protection and Anti-Corruption Service (SPIA) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Chișinău Prosecutor’s Office conducted searches at the airport.

In early September of the same year, the Government led by Maia Sandu repealed four decisions related to the airport concession, adopted between 2012–2013. These included decisions on initiating the PPP project, approving the asset concession, approving the report on the selection process of the concessionaire, and confirming the approval of the airport’s asset concession. Later, the Public Property Agency filed a lawsuit against Avia Invest SRL, requesting the annulment of the August 30, 2013 concession contract concerning the management of state-owned airport assets and the land associated with them.