Procurement worth 500 million lei, initiated by former leadership of Moldova's Public Services Agency, ceased

Chisinau, 3 September /MOLDPRES/ - A procurement worth 500 million lei, initiated by the former leadership of the Public Services Agency (ASP), was ceased by the new leadership of the institution, following a verification made by the control corps  of the prime minister. PM Natalia Gavrilita and the director of the Public Services Agency, Mircea Esanu, made statements to this effect at a news briefing today, the government’s communication and protocol department has reported.    .

The prime minister’s control corps, during verification, detected more irregularities dealing with this acquisition. Thus, the tender was not included in the annual plan of acquisitions of the institution and the process was carried out with many infringements of the law, including the ones dealing with the terms of publishing the announcement, the change more times of the sum of the procurement and the deadlines for submitting the bids. The acquisition was organized in haste, although the ASP stocks of blank forms for passports and the quantity of blank forms available according to the already signed contracts were ensuring the supply with passports with no problem for at least one year ahead. There is a huge difference in the value of the bids, which shows that the tender’s initiators would have allowed irregularities in the compilation of the tender book.        

Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita said at the news briefing that she had enough reasons to describe this scheme as one of corruption and embezzlement, made to the detriment of the citizens and for the benefit of a small number of people.  

The file with the documents taken by the PM’s control corps is to be submitted to the Prosecutor’s Office for starting an investigation.  

At the news briefing, the director of the Public Services Agency informed about cheapenings for a string of services provided by the institution. It is about the return to the prices grid recorded ahead of the increases in prices made by the Chicu government. The cut in prices for ASP services is to be proposed in the next weeks.    

„More cheapenings will come next, including based on the switch of certain services to the online regime and on the correct price which we are to contract for blank forms at the next tender.’’  

Mircea Esanu said that a new tender for the purchasing of blank forms for passports was to be announced in the near future.   

photo: Government