Moldovagaz company remains without leadership; company representative says external administration must be appointed, not to remain without gas

Chisinau 16 October /MOLDPRES/ - The Moldovagaz company has remained without leadership, in conditions when, for three weeks already, the Russian side has been ‘’blocking the appointment’’ of the company’s new leadership. A member of the Moldovagaz Council of Observers, Sergiu Tofilat, has made statements to this effect. He noted that Moldovagaz must purchase gas for the winter season (January-April); yet, the process is blocked and there is no one to  take decisions.      

„For three weeks already, Moldovagaz has remained without leadership, as the Russian side blocks the appointment. Only an apparent (acting) manager, without mandate, remained out of the nine members of the Administrative Board, but who is surely entered as having right of signature in the public registers. According to the status, the decisions are approved with a majority of seven members,’’ Tofilat said.     

Sergiu Tofilat also said, on 25 September, a meeting of the Council of Observers, had taken place, during which the new composition of the administration, including the president, should have been elected. ‘’We sent the ballot papers, but we do not know how the Russian side voted. On 30 September, we asked them for the meeting’s minutes, which they were to submit in five days. We have not received the answer even so far. Thus, the Gazprom representatives have already infringed the regulation of the Council of Observers,’’ Sergiu Tofilat said.     

According to Tofilat, Moldovagaz must purchase gas for the winter season (January-April), but the process is blocked, as there is no one to take decisions. ‘’For us not to remain without gas, we must appoint external administration for Moldovagaz. We submitted to parliament a draft law to this effect; it must be registered and included on the agenda of the next parliament meeting. The blackmail is over; we are already prepared for any tricks on behalf of Gazprom,’’ Tofilat said.

The Administrative Board of the Moldovagaz stock company is a collegial body, made up of nine members appointed at a proposal by the principle shareholders for a three-year period. The mandate of some of the members of the administrative board expired in last June and the Energy Ministry selected, for the first time ever, by open contest, the candidates which it put forward.  

Thus, in last mid-September, the Energy Ministry put forward the candidacy of Dorin Junghietu for the office of president of the Moldovagaz Administrative Board. He has so far worked abroad, including at big international companies. At the same time, Vadim Ceban was put forward for the office of deputy president of the Moldovagaz Administrative Board and Eduard Calancea and Radu Mandraburca – for the positions of member of the Board. The candidacies were to be approved by the stock company’s Council of Observers.