Press release
May 18, 2020

Avia Invest, the concessionaire of Chișinău International Airport, draws public attention to the increasing pressure from the authorities of the Republic of Moldova and President Igor Dodon personally to forcibly seize the airport.

It came to open threats to artificially bankrupt the company and block accounts to prevent any financial transactions.

Avia Invest expresses concern about Igor Dodon's statements made on May 14th after a meeting of the Supreme security Council, when he confirmed his intention to terminate the airport concession agreement at any cost. From these statements, it follows that he is ready for any measures, including blackmail and pressure.

He voiced three possible scenarios for the development of events, which essentially boil down to one – to achieve the company's insolvency. The other two "scenarios", announced by Igor Dodon, is impossible. The contract can not be terminated by a court decision, since the court has already spoken on such claims. Also, do not take into account the option of canceling the contract due to non-fulfillment of obligations by Avia Invest, since in the first six years of the agreement, the company fulfilled its investment obligations by 40%, investing more than 90 million euros. In these conditions, Igor Dodon can get the contract terminated only if Avia Invest is declared insolvent. Therefore, the authorities, on the direct order of Igor Dodon, are doing everything to artificially bankrupt the company.

This is why Avia Invest accounts were blocked. The commercial Bank did not allow Air Moldova to pay our company's debt, blocking the transfer of 2 million euros. Another Bank blocked 1.75 million euros listed by one of the company's main shareholders, Russian businessman Andrey Goncharenko. Thus, there is an absurd situation when the civil aviation Authority requires our company to pay the debt in the amount of 1.1 million euros, and we can not get the 3.75 million euros we are entitled to. It should also be noted that the Chisinau city hall refused to issue a permit for the construction of a new passenger terminal. The purpose of these actions is to accuse Avia Invest of violating investment obligations. Do I need to remind you that the mayor's office of Chisinau is headed by Ion Cheban, close to Igor Dodon.

Pressure and abuse of power and open threats from Igor Dodon forced Avia Invest to appeal to the international arbitration court in Stockholm. If the authorities of the Republic of Moldova continue to act in the same way, Avia Invest will be forced to appeal to other international instances, including the European court of human rights, where Moldova has repeatedly lost in such cases. Unfortunately, this will entail huge financial and image losses for the Republic of Moldova. This can only be prevented if Igor Dodon and state agencies stop these actions.