Term of inquiry commission investigating state-owned enterprises extended

Parliament has extended by 30 days the term of the Inquiry Commission investigating the activities of certain state-owned enterprises. The bill was supported by 53 lawmakers.

The initiative was presented by the chair of the Inquiry Commission, MP Dinu Plîngău, who argued that the extension was necessary because more time was needed to ensure that the commission’s work would conclude not only with a report, but also with the identification of legal solutions to the problems uncovered and the submission of legislative proposals.


“We need these 30 days to bring the state institutions together, because we have found that there is no very effective coordination among state institutions in resolving these issues. The most important thing is to identify legal solutions, so that the inquiry concludes not only with a report that could even be presented today on the violations identified, but, more importantly, with legal solutions, including legislative proposals that we can submit at the end of the inquiry,” Dinu Plîngău said.


The MP also presented several pieces of information obtained during the work of the Inquiry Commission.


“We began the commission’s work to understand how many state-owned enterprises the Republic of Moldova has. Since independence, the Republic of Moldova has had 1,359 state-owned enterprises. The very serious issue identified is the inconsistency between the data in the official registers provided by state institutions. Accordingly, as of today, according to the State Register of Legal Entities, 515 state-owned enterprises are registered. Of these 515 state-owned enterprises, 323 do not have an IDNO. The Public Property Register indicates that the Republic of Moldova has 163 state-owned enterprises. According to information from the State Tax Register, there are 609 state-owned enterprises,” Dinu Plîngău stated.


The MP emphasized that the commission’s work had also uncovered irregularities related to the appointment of individuals as members of the boards of directors of state-owned enterprises.


“A very serious violation in this context is the fact that there is a very frequent rotation of people on different boards of directors. A person may be a member of one board for two or three months and then, two or three months later, become a member of another board. The major risk is that the person is appointed not to directly perform duties related to the activity of that enterprise, but rather as additional remuneration on top of their basic salary,” Dinu Plîngău said.


The commission also analyzed salary levels in state institutions.


“The three companies with the highest average salaries per employee are MoldATSA, Energocom and Moldovagaz. The largest salary increase was recorded at MoldATSA over the past two years, amounting to 81% of the existing salary. In 2019, the average salary at MoldATSA was 32,000 lei; today, the average salary is around 63,000 lei. The largest increase, of 71%, was made over the past two years. The problem is that, in most cases, there is no confirmation or justification for these increases, even though the law allows them. In any case, there must be a justification every time such an increase is made, especially when we are talking about a 71% increase,” Dinu Plîngău noted.


The MP added that the commission’s work had also highlighted other violations, including discrepancies in tax and financial reports.

The Inquiry Commission on the activities of state-owned enterprises was established by Parliament at the beginning of July this year, at the proposal of a group of lawmakers from the parliamentary faction of the Party of Action and Solidarity. The commission consists of 11 MPs and is chaired by MP Dinu Plîngău.