{"id":445354,"date":"2018-03-01T10:50:12","date_gmt":"2018-03-01T10:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/?p=445354"},"modified":"2018-03-01T21:53:13","modified_gmt":"2018-03-01T21:53:13","slug":"20-million-dollars-electricity-invoices-paid-consumers-reached-offshore-companies-rise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/20-million-dollars-electricity-invoices-paid-consumers-reached-offshore-companies-rise\/","title":{"rendered":"Over 20 million US dollars from Moldova’s electricity bills ended up in offshore firms’ accounts\/\/ RISE"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

RISE<\/a> outlined the scheme by which the buffer company in the separatist region became the main electricity supplier overnight, earned millions of profits and hid them in tax havens.<\/p>\n

Only around 20% of the country’s total electricity demand is produced on the territory of the Republic of Moldova on the right bank of the River\u00a0Nistru. In recent years, the battle for Moldova’s electricity supply contract has usually been made between two regional players: a representative of the Ukrainian group DTEK<\/strong>, which\u00a0is part of the business empire of Ukrainian billionaire Rinat Akhmetov, and the Cuciurgan plant<\/strong>, which is owned by the giant Inter RAO UES, controlled by the Russian state.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Source: MediaCenter (The Cuciurgan plant)<\/p><\/div>\n

How EnergoKapital appeared in the scheme:<\/strong><\/h3>\n

After the spring of 2014, when the Ministry of Economy announced that between April 1, 2014, and April 1, 2015, the Republic of Moldova bought electricity from DTEK Vostokenergo and from the Cuciurgan plant, due to the crisis in the Eastern Ukraine that degraded into an armed conflict, in autumn of 2014, DTEK has completely ceased delivery of energy to the Republic of Moldova. Consequently, DTEK’s contractual obligations were taken over by the Cuciurgan Power Plant.<\/p>\n

At this point in the scheme, an intermediary appeared – the company EnergoKapital<\/strong> in Tiraspol, which was founded in October 2014, a few weeks before the DTEK ceased its deliveries. Founders of the company that emerged overnight were Bas-Market SA in Tiraspol, with offshore shareholders, and Ornamental Art Limited in Hong Kong.<\/p>\n

In the following years, the EnergoKapital’s license was prolonged four times, with the left bank becoming the main electricity supplier in the Republic of Moldova. Thus, from the end of 2014 until the end of March 2017, EnergoKapital delivered energy worth about 400 million dollars to the consumers on the right bank of Nistru.<\/p>\n

The offshore compromise<\/h3>\n

Victor Parlicov<\/strong>, the\u00a0former director of the National Energy Reglementation Agency, claims that such schemes have happened in the past, but the emergence of EnergoKapital as an intermediary is also due to some misunderstandings between business partners in Chisinau, Tiraspol,\u00a0and Moscow.<\/p>\n

Former director of EnergoKapital in 2014-2016, Mihail Dobrov<\/strong>, now head of Dnestrenergo, an enterprise that manages Transnistrian energy transport networks, refused to speak on this subject.<\/p>\n

Criminal law in Chi\u0219in\u0103u<\/h3>\n

The criminal scheme by which Moldova was supplied with electricity also came into view of the law enforcement bodies, the General Prosecutor’s Office, stating beforehand that the EnergoKapital<\/strong> intermediary figured in a criminal case.\u00a0Vladimir Mosneaga<\/strong>, prosecutor at the Office for Combating Organized Crime and Special Causes, refused to rule on the file, suggesting that RISE should wait for the official response.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reading Time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>Over 20 million dollars from electricity invoices paid by Moldovan consumers have reached the accounts of offshore companies. The money was removed from the Victoriabank accounts of a company in Tiraspol that has been interfering with the supply of energy for several years in Moldova.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":445355,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[35],"class_list":["post-445354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","tag-important"],"content_social_share":"Reading Time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

RISE<\/a> outlined the scheme by which the buffer company in the separatist region became the main electricity supplier overnight, earned millions of profits and hid them in tax havens.<\/p>\n

Only around 20% of the country’s total electricity demand is produced on the territory of the Republic of Moldova on the right bank of the River\u00a0Nistru. In recent years, the battle for Moldova’s electricity supply contract has usually been made between two regional players: a representative of the Ukrainian group DTEK<\/strong>, which\u00a0is part of the business empire of Ukrainian billionaire Rinat Akhmetov, and the Cuciurgan plant<\/strong>, which is owned by the giant Inter RAO UES, controlled by the Russian state.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Source: MediaCenter (The Cuciurgan plant)<\/p><\/div>\n

How EnergoKapital appeared in the scheme:<\/strong><\/h3>\n

After the spring of 2014, when the Ministry of Economy announced that between April 1, 2014, and April 1, 2015, the Republic of Moldova bought electricity from DTEK Vostokenergo and from the Cuciurgan plant, due to the crisis in the Eastern Ukraine that degraded into an armed conflict, in autumn of 2014, DTEK has completely ceased delivery of energy to the Republic of Moldova. Consequently, DTEK’s contractual obligations were taken over by the Cuciurgan Power Plant.<\/p>\n

At this point in the scheme, an intermediary appeared – the company EnergoKapital<\/strong> in Tiraspol, which was founded in October 2014, a few weeks before the DTEK ceased its deliveries. Founders of the company that emerged overnight were Bas-Market SA in Tiraspol, with offshore shareholders, and Ornamental Art Limited in Hong Kong.<\/p>\n

In the following years, the EnergoKapital’s license was prolonged four times, with the left bank becoming the main electricity supplier in the Republic of Moldova. Thus, from the end of 2014 until the end of March 2017, EnergoKapital delivered energy worth about 400 million dollars to the consumers on the right bank of Nistru.<\/p>\n

The offshore compromise<\/h3>\n

Victor Parlicov<\/strong>, the\u00a0former director of the National Energy Reglementation Agency, claims that such schemes have happened in the past, but the emergence of EnergoKapital as an intermediary is also due to some misunderstandings between business partners in Chisinau, Tiraspol,\u00a0and Moscow.<\/p>\n

Former director of EnergoKapital in 2014-2016, Mihail Dobrov<\/strong>, now head of Dnestrenergo, an enterprise that manages Transnistrian energy transport networks, refused to speak on this subject.<\/p>\n

Criminal law in Chi\u0219in\u0103u<\/h3>\n

The criminal scheme by which Moldova was supplied with electricity also came into view of the law enforcement bodies, the General Prosecutor’s Office, stating beforehand that the EnergoKapital<\/strong> intermediary figured in a criminal case.\u00a0Vladimir Mosneaga<\/strong>, prosecutor at the Office for Combating Organized Crime and Special Causes, refused to rule on the file, suggesting that RISE should wait for the official response.<\/p>\n

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