The Chisinau Arena seems to be a fraudulent affair, stated Prime Minister Maia Sandu on Wednesday at the beginning of the Cabinet meeting. “The real costs appear to be lower than what Moldovan government has paid,” said Maia Sandu.

The prime minister noted the original estimates that evaluated the project at 43 million lei could not be found. Meanwhile the bill for the future Arena has already gamounted to 44.5 million euros.

Maia Sandu also said that it’s unclear why it was necessary to allocate 69.2 hectares of land for this project, when the complex covers just 10 hectares. The land repurposing fee alone was  90 million lei, and a further 400,000 lei of taxpayers’ money went to cover the notrary’s fee for registering the agreement with the private contractor.

An important clause of the contract is that the government can lose the ownership of complex to the private partner over debts. This amendment was adopted by Parliament via an extraordinary procedure. Moreover, the building warranty was agreed to be only one year, added Maia Sandu.

According to the prime minister, similar fraudulent schemes were also identified for duty-free shops, which in 2015-2019 imported 2.8 billion lei worth of goods, 75% of which were imported illegally.