Chisinau International Airport is in the middle of a controversy related to the tender for the commercial premises after Vlad Biletschi asked the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office and the National Anti-Corruption Center to investigate how the tender is carried out. Bilețchi claims that the authorities secretly modified the specifications to favor certain companies.
Previously, the specifications had disadvantageous rules for other investors, favoring only the Lagardere company. According to Biletschi’s statements, on June 12, the conditions of participation were again secretly changed to allow other companies to participate. Specifically, tender organizers changed the requirements for travel retail and catering companies, removing the requirement for catering experience to sell retail.
“We have the third tender at the airport and the fourth amended specifications. The auction must take place between June 1 and June 24. Interested companies received a form in English with incorrect conditions designed to discourage their participation. On June 12, authorities changed the requirements and specifically excluded that requirement,” said Biletschi.
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In response to bani.md, the press service of the Chisinau International Airport asserted that they did not change the conditions for participating in the auction and attributed the discrepancy to a technical error in the English translation.
It is the third public auction initiated by the Chisinau International Airport to lease unused assets intended for the Travel Retail & Food and Beverages activity. Previous tenders have failed, the last time in April when only the Lagardere company participated.
After the first tender cancellation, the Minister of Infrastructure Andrei Spanu declared that if only one company participated, it could be declared the winner. The Public Property Agency canceled the first tender due to an insufficient participants number and extended the second tender after only one company signed up.