Spînu on Airport Rental Scandal: Charlatans Want Destabilization

Infrastructure Minister Andrei Spînu calls “charlatans” those who criticize the way in which the auction for the lease of commercial premises at the Chisinau International Airport was organized. According to him, the “Șor criminal group” financed them to destabilize the situation. As for the accusation that everything was rigged to favor a particular company, Spînu said he had nothing to do with that economic agent. “I am not associated with this company, I have never met its representatives, I do not know who they are, where they have an office, etc. We have not had any discussions either on the phone or via the Internet. All public assumptions about my involvement or some ministerial actions regarding this company are false. And I am asking everyone to stop spreading fakes,” Andrei Spînu said. In this regard, he noted that the commercial premises to be transferred to the “strategic company” management generate millions of dollars in revenue, so the current beneficiaries would try to block the process. “The whole scandal about the auction, from my point of view, is generated by the Șor criminal group, which realizes that in a very short time it will lose all the income generated from these premises. All Telegram groups’ charlatans are trying to destabilize the situation. I wouldn’t be surprised if they are all funded from the same source,” Andrei Spînu said. The scandal began when some public figures noted that the tender for the lease of commercial premises at the airport was suspiciously adapted to the requirements exactly matching the characteristics of the French company Lagardère, which raised suspicions that it would gain an advantage in this case. Later this company registered a representative office in Moldova in November 2023, shortly before the authorities announced their intention to lease premises at the airport. This raised even more doubts, especially as the company had its registered office in a flat in a former hostel. Besides, the same Lagardère company participated in a similar auction at Otopeni Airport in Bucharest, and as a result came to the attention of the Romanian prosecutor’s office. Earlier, Minister Spînu said that he was personally negotiating with some “experienced” companies that would take over the management of the Chisinau airport.