Fifteen years after illegally building a quay on land leased from Moldsilva, the company Vas International Plus has been ordered by the court to vacate the 18 hectares of land near the Giurgiulești Port. The Chișinău Court, Rîșcani branch, ruled to terminate the lease contract for the forest fund land. The decision, issued on April 18, can still be appealed at the Chișinău Court of Appeal within 30 days.

The Anticoruptie.md portal revealed the illegal construction of the quay by the company, which hindered the transformation of Giurgiulești Port into a regional maritime hub. Vas International Plus SRL had leased 18.5 hectares adjacent to the port from the State Agency Moldsilva. On this land—located in a border area, which already prohibits leasing—contrary to the contract's stated purpose of development and reconstruction, an improvised quay was set up for unloading gravel, an activity forbidden by international regulations.

Despite warnings from the General Prosecutor's Office and the State Environmental Inspectorate in May 2011 to halt the activity, the company continued depositing gravel—an action that could have led to sanctions against the Giurgiulești Port Complex from relevant international bodies. Nevertheless, in 2015, the Moldovan authorities, specifically the Ministry of Environment, legalized the structure!

The lease contract for the land where the illegal quay was built dates back to November 2010. For three years, Moldsilva inspectors no longer bothered Vas International Plus. In 2013, the state institution managing Moldova’s forest fund sued the private company, noting that nothing had been developed in the supposed recreation and leisure area—except for the quay where gravel was being unloaded.

Although Moldsilva won successive court cases, they did not result—as would have been expected—in the termination of the contract and the demolition of the illegal quay. In June 2015, the state agency, showing a suspicious degree of goodwill towards those who had violated the law and contract terms for five years, even coordinated the project through which Vas International Plus was to develop a leisure and relaxation area—naturally including in the new contract the already existing quay.