May 21 (SeeNews) - Avia Invest, the operator of the Chisinau airport, announced that it has repaid a total 22.6 million lei ($1.3 million/1.15 million euro) of debt to the state budget and demanded that the Moldovan government ease its pressure on the company.
"The repayment was made despite the authorities' unprecedented actions and their desire to seize the company by blocking funds from our investor. Therefore, the insolvency proceedings and and all pressure on the company must stop immediately," the company said in a press release on Wednesday.
In response, prime minister Ion Chicu said the company has still not covered fully its liabilities.
"I hope that debt in the form of taxes and fees in the amount of 10 million lei will also go quickly to the budget," Chicu said in a post on Facebook on Wednesday evening.
On May 18, Chicu said that the government will launch insolvency proceedings against Avia Invest. During 2017-2019, Avia Invest accumulated over 118 million lei in debts, which it agreed to repay gradually starting July 2019. However, it managed to repay only a little more than half of its liabilities and currently owes the government some 50 million lei, the prime minister said on Monday.
For its part, representatives of Avia Invest's mother company Komaksavia Airport Invest said the company will file an 885 million euro ($956 million) lawsuit against the government for what it claims is unlawful actions. The company is contesting a government decree requesting that the company transfer half of their passenger fees to the state budget in order to help authorities mitigate the economic effects of the coronavirus outbreak. Cyprus-based Komaksavia Airport Invest owns 95% of Avia Invest.
According to Chicu, if the company enters insolvency, the government will have solid legal grounds to terminate the 49-year concession contract.
In August, Guernsey, Channel Islands-registered property investment firm NR Investments said it has agreed to acquire 95% of Avia Invest. The announcement prompted the Moldovan government to seek cancellation of the concession in court.
Avia Invest won a 49-year concession for Chisinau International Airport in 2013.
In 2015, Moldova's government announced it was considering to terminate the contract with Avia Invest, acting upon recommendation of the country's anti-corruption authority CNA. According to the media reports at the time, CNA was of the opinion that the deal has to be annulled after its investigation found that Avia Invest had not made any investments in the modernisation of the airport and some of the airport's profits were channelled to a business held by a local entrepreneur.
(1 euro=19.5325 lei)