A new court hearing in the “Energocom” case, in which former Moldovan President Igor Dodon is accused of exceeding his official duties, took place on Tuesday, October 18, at the Buiucani court in Chisinau. Igor Dodon is under house arrest in the “kuliok” case.

A hearing in the “Energocom” case was due to take place on 6 October, but was postponed at the request of the defence. On 9 September, the Prosecutor General’s Office (PG) announced that the criminal case against former Moldovan President Igor Dodon had been sent to the Buiucani court in Chisinau for examination on the merits.

The accusation against Igor Dodon relates to his actions during 2008-2009, when he was First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economy and Trade. More specifically, Dodon is accused of having signed, in May 2008, from his position as First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economy and Trade, the opinion which favoured the conclusion of a contract for the purchase of electricity for the Republic of Moldova by the General Director of Energocom SA with a foreign Hungarian company, in the amount of 2 320 000 000 kw/h, for the period May 2008 – June 2009, contrary to the legal provisions which at that time covered the activity of the central public authority for energy management in the person of the Ministry of Economy and Trade and in particular the functional powers of the Minister of Economy and Trade.

“At the same time, these actions led to the increase of electricity tariffs, affecting the rights of final consumers, citizens of the Republic of Moldova,” the PG announced.

Thus, according to the provisions of the contract concluded with the foreign company, the price of electricity for the period May-September 2008 inclusive was 0.053 US dollars for 1 kw/h, and 0.058 US dollars for 1 kw/h for electricity delivered in the period from October 2008 to June 2009 inclusive, although Energocom SA had already negotiated and concluded two contracts for the supply of electricity at a price 29% cheaper.

According to the accusers, as a result of these actions, the State, in the person of SA ,,Energocom”, was caused particularly high damages of more than 11 million US dollars, equivalent to about 124 million lei, money that would have been subsequently transferred to the accounts of offshore companies.

The Prosecutor General’s Office stated that during the criminal proceedings evidence was obtained proving the “harmful nature” of the electricity purchase contract, concluded to the detriment of the state’s interests, namely the existence at that time of electricity supply contracts concluded by ЗАО ,,Молдавская ГРЭС” with foreign economic agents at prices much lower than the purchase price of electricity by JSC “Energocom” from the foreign company in Hungary, which was supplied through the electricity networks of the R. Moldova on the basis of an agent contract between SA “Energocom” as executor and ЗАО ,,Молдавская ГРЭС” as customer.