Officially, the increase in electricity tariffs will affect the four directors of the National Energy Regulatory Agency (ANRE) that approved the new tariffs. This is because at least two of them live in luxury apartments with a surface of over 100 sqm and their maintenance will increase considerably. On the other hand, the salaries of the four directors estimated at over 50 thousand lei per month and the businesses they manage will probably help them to cope easier with these increases.

The National Energy Regulatory Agency (ANRE), an institution implementing the state policy on the regulation of energy sectors, decided Friday, November 6 that there are no grounds for reviewing the decisions from July related to the approval of new tariffs for distribution and supply of electricity and the tariff for electricity transmission service. The decision to increase tariffs entered officially into force on November 9 2015. Consumers of Gas Natural Fenosa, who paid 1 leu and 58 bani per kw / hour will pay almost double, 2, 16 lei. For Friday, November 13, ANRE announced a new meeting and they will decide on the decision to increase the price to natural gas, taken in July. Most likely, the result will be the same – tariffs will increase. Decisions are taken by the ANRE Council, consisting of four directors, one of which – general director with activities in different fields.

General Director, with house under construction

Sergiu Ciobanu  has been general director of ANRE as of July 2013. He was dismissed for three months in September based on the Constitutional Court's decision to reinstate Victor Parlicov, former general director dismissed from Parliament. He was reinstated in January 2014. Before that, he was Deputy Minister of Economy, when the institution was led by Valeriu Lazar. Also, he was a member of Managing Councils of three state enterprises: "Marculesti Airport", "Moldexpo" and "The State Registration Chamber".

Not  a single statement on income and property, submitted by Sergiu Ciobanu since he is an official, has revealed any dwelling, but the salary from these institutions and, more recently, a Skoda, made in 2008 and purchased in 2009. General Director of ANRE is engaged to a singer, with stage name Roxana. Her real name is Oxana Gotinjan. They had previously lived in an apartment on the street. Sadoveanu in Chisinau, registered on the name of a child from a previous relationship of  Oxana. In 2013, in an interview for a fashionable site, thewoman.md Oxana Gotinjan (Roxana) declared that she owns a BMW, 5 Sery, black, bought in 2007 from abroad, on common money. "I do not like small cars, I adore the large ones because they are comfortable", she said. "I just drove BMWs, we had older models of different colors: grey, white gold", she said. In the same interview, she said that her husband drove a Skoda Superb. His car is not included in any statement of the official. Also, the apartment where both of them lived and the company "Oxigot" SRL, founded and managed by Oxana Gotinjan in November 2005, are not part of the statement on income and property. He has declared activities in trade, a social capital of 5,400 lei and is registered in the apartment inhabited by Sergiu and Oxana on str. Sadoveanu.  It was not possible to check whether the company has or has not been indicated in the statement of income and property of Sergiu Ciobanu in 2014 because it is missing on the ANRE website, but also on the website of the Committee on National Integrity Council (CNI ). According to sources, Sergiu Ciobanu is involved in other businesses through intermediaries.

Sergiu Ciobanu argues that he submitted the 2014 declaration on property and he does not know why this is not public yet. He said that he was transparent and has an annual income of 700,000 lei from the agency and last year took a credit and now he is building a house. "I bought a plot of land and I took money from the bank. A house is being built. We are living in my parents’ flat until the house is built. We do not live in the flat from str. Sadoveanu. The house is not ready yet. External works are performed. I think it will be ready in a year. The house is located in Stauceni", he said. As about the unreported company of his life partner, he said: "this company has never activated. Also, I could not declare it because we are not officially married", he said.

Luxury house of Octavian Lungu

Octavian Lungu is director and member of the Management Board of ANRE  as of January 2014. Before that, in June 2013, he was advisor of the Minister of Transport and Road Infrastructure and chairman of the Administration Councils of "Air Moldova", "MoldATSA" and "Airport Handling". Previously, he held leading positions in companies in the field of finance, including Victoria Insurance. During this period, before he was elected member of ANRE, Lungu has built a luxury individual house in town Codru at the outskirts of Chisinau. The house is officially registered in documents in the small town Codru because it is near the Oncology Institute, on str. Testemitanu. The building, with a market value of over 5 million lei, is declared by Octavian Lungu but in his statement on income and property for 2013 he claims to have built it between 2001 to 2012,  and then it was officially put in operation. It is registered on his and his wife’s name, Stela, physician-internist at Hospital St. Arhanghel Mihail. Couple Lungu owns two plots of land for construction, two cars "Mazda" and over 800 thousand lei in bank accounts.

Octavian Lungu is founder of two SRLs, "Danisan Consult" and "Universal Motors". The first company was founded in 2008 and provides business consulting services. It is registered on str. Romana, in a building that previously belonged to Victoria Insurance Company, where Lungu worked and then to "Finpar Invest" SRL, affiliated to Vladimir Plahotniuc. In 2012, he sold the building to another trader. In 2013, Octavian Lungu co-founded another company "Universal Motors" specialized in trade with vehicles. ANRE Director owns 45% in this company. His business partners are Dorin Procopciuc (5%), Boris Verlan (5%) and Alexei Rogov (45%). The company is registered in a private house in Durlesti.

“Forgotten” revenues from Plahotniuc’s company

In April 2015, Octavian Lungu was the target of a control on behalf of the National Integrity Commission (CNI), following a request of the National Anti-Corruption Centre (CNA). CNI conducted a counterbalance to the information indicated in the statement of Octavian Lungu and information in the databases of state and established that the Director of ANRE owns the property located in Chisinau, str. Florica Nita, which has not been included in his statement on income and property. On 5 February 2015, the CNI has ordered the initiation of a control at Octavian Lungu. The institution found out that in 2013, Lungu had revenues amounted at  2.7 thousand lei from SRL "Prime Management", founded and managed by Vladimir Plahotniuc, which he did not declare in his statement.  In the explanations made at CNI, Lungu said that "this omission was unintentional and the amount results from a contract for services signed with SRL" Prime Management ".Also, this amount was included in the income statement for 2013 submitted to the Tax Inspectorate ". The current director of ANRE has not declared the share in an apartment of 109.6 square meters, which he got in 1995. Lungu said that the apartment was privatized in 1995 by his parents, based on privatization vouchers and he did not know that he was included as a co-owner of this flat when it was registered. It is worth mentioning that Octavian Lungu’s father, Gheorghe Lungu is former Minister of Agriculture in the Government Ciubuc (1997-1998).

CNI also found that Lungu did not include in his statement the 10 bank accounts with a turnover of over 50 thousand lei. He explained  that he declared the salary and deposit accounts but failed to declare the accounts used to make some intermediary payments which he did not know.  He claimed that in the statement for 2014 he showed empty or negative balance accounts. Consequently, CNI decided to close the case "because it was found that there are no circumstances showing deliberate violation of the legal regime in the statement of income and property of inaccurate or incomplete data. Also, there was not established an obvious difference between incomes gained in 2013 and the acquired property in the same period of time", runs the document of CNI. Octavian Lungu did not answer the phone.