Alexandra Sheehan, State Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry, said that the “optimal way of transferring these objects” to the balance of a “qualified manager” will be determined in the near future. It should be noted that these objects – wooden houses – were demolished, and in their place tenants built new buildings.
“Firstly, this problem concerns not only this object, but also other property that does not belong to the direct sphere of activity of the ministry. Secondly, we need to take into account the political obstacles and the war, which do not allow us to manage this property and lands to which we do not have access. We will soon determine the best way to transfer these properties to a qualified manager,” Sheehan said at a parliamentary hearing on the management of state property.
Adrian Lebedinsky, chairman of the parliamentary commission for control over public finances, suggested making a list of all such facilities and transferring them to the balance sheet of the Public Property Agency (PPA) through a government decision.
“Why do you keep it on the balance sheet of the ministry? Transfer it to the Public Property Agency, it’s their task. You are engaged in agriculture, not recreation centers near Odessa. And what is the point of keeping it, if everything is destroyed there?”, – said Lebedinsky.
As noted at the commission meeting, the Moldovan Court of Accounts has revealed “inconsistencies” in the management of the country’s property facilities in Ukraine.
“The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry for several years continues to account on its balance sheet wooden cabins illegally dismantled by the new tenant of the recreation center “Zatoka” (Belgorod-Dnistrovsky district, Ukraine). The recreation center is managed by a public institution – the Institute of Field Crops Research “Selektsia” and is the property of the Republic of Moldova located abroad,” the report of the Court of Accounts says.
At the same time, on March 26, 2023, as a result of the appeal of the Republic of Moldova on this issue, the criminal prosecution by the prosecutor’s office of Belgorod-Dnistrovsky district of Ukraine, previously terminated, was resumed.
The Public Property Agency, for its part, reported that it annually sends appeals to the central public authorities of Moldova “in order to identify property that could be proposed for inclusion in the list of objects to be privatized”. It was suggested that the central authorities “have certain concerns about offering objects for privatization”, despite the fact that the final decision is still made by the government.
