Moldova’s unilateral approach to auditing debt of Moldovagaz inconsistent with agreements reached in October 2021

The meeting of the Supervisory Board of Moldovagaz slated for February 2, 2022, did not take place due to non-attendance by representatives of the Moldovan Government. The Supervisory Board was supposed to harmonize the approaches to be used in auditing the debt owed by Moldovagaz to the Gazprom Group for consumer gas supplies to the right bank of the Dniester, as provided for by the Protocol of negotiations on the settlement of outstanding issues in the gas sector that was signed on October 29, 2021.

Instead, representatives of the Government of the Republic of Moldova have announced that the Moldovan party has already determined the conditions on which an auditor will be engaged. As can be seen from the documents made public, the suggestions submitted earlier to the Moldovan party by Gazprom have not been taken into account.

The Moldovan party’s unilateral approach to setting the terms of the tender for auditor services does not bode well for the transparency and objectivity of the audit concerning the debt owed by Moldovagaz for the gas supplied to consumers in the Republic of Moldova. As a consequence, the Supervisory Board of Moldovagaz might subsequently refrain from issuing approval for the results of the audit.