The leasing agreement of Chisinau International Airport will not be terminated despite the irregularities detected by the experts of the special Committee, established at the initiative of former liberal-democrat PM Valeriu Strelet. The announcement was made Monday, November 9 by Vladimir Cebotari, acting Minister of Justice, who was appointed at the initiative of PD during a briefing.

"The working group issued a report that was voted unanimously in October 2015. The report is confidential, there were identified some weaknesses regarding Government. The investor has completed point 1, 2, 3, but other points have not been completed yet. Under the agreement, the investor must be informed and provided a term to honor his commitments.  Currently, there are no legal and contractual bases to declare nullity. The legislation provides that when there is a breach, there should be established a period of remediation", said Vladimir Cebotari.

Among the arguments made by the acting minister is the fact that so far the company "Avia Invest” has invested nearly 46 million euros in the three objectives set for the first stage in the leasing agreement. “Two components which were to be commissioned in August current year, were not brought to an end. It's about expanding airport facilities and some car parkings. Experts formulated some recommendations and pointed out to several risks related to the termination of the contract ", said Minister of Justice.

The government decided on 30 May 2013 to surrender assets managed by the state enterprise "Chisinau International Airport" and related land and on 4 September of the same year, the Cabinet of Ministers, headed by Iurie Leanca, approved the report on the results of the contest to select the concessionaire. According to the document, the contest was won by the Company "UK Komaks" from town Khabarovsk, Russian Federation.

The contract stipulated that assets of the State Enterprise “Chisinau International Airport" and related land are transmitted in leasing for a period of up to 49 years and the amount of the investments of the leasing enterprise will be of at least 230 million euros. In the same period, they renounced on the majority package of assets at Banca de Economii. Both BEM and the airport came under the control of companies managed by businessman Ilan Shor.

In August 2015, the National Anti-Corruption Center sent a report to the Prime Minister Valeriu Strelet  and recommended terminating the leasing agreement of Chisinau International Airport. According to the document, the agreement had to be terminated because "the contract was not concluded with the Association of legal entities – S.A Khabarovsk Airport and SA Kolomensky Zavod, designated as winner". CNA has also proposed to cancel the fee of airport modernization amounted at 9 euros per passenger, charged illegally. In turn, the Ministry of Justice forwarded a report to PM Strelet with the recommendation “to initiate the procedure of renegotiation and amending the leasing agreement."

Following a request of the Prime Minister Valeriu Strelet, a commission was established in early September 2015 to assess legal prerequisites, implementation steps and consequences of terminating the leasing agreement of the Airport.

"Execution works are lower than the acceptable level necessary to perform based on commitment. The amount of the statutory capital is lower than stipulated in the contract. I signed several provisions to accumulate data and facts, as the Commission must present the final report by November 6 on initiating the procedure of terminating the leasing Agreement", said Valeriu Strelet a few days before he was dismissed.