The first auction to sell the six MIG-29 planes held this year was declared null and void. Alexandru Josan, spokesman for the Ministry of Defense, has told Info-Prim Neo that there was made no bid. A new auction will take place in two months. The February 1 auction was the fourth attempt to sell the six MIGs. The Ministry of Defense is yet optimistic that a buyer will appear and the planes will not be earmarked for scarp metal. Earlier, Defense Minister Vitalie Marinuta said the aircraft’s maintenance cost was comparable with the Ministry’s annual budget. Furthermore, they cost $30 million to be fully repaired. Manufactured in 1988, the jets have never left the hangars since 1997 and the Ministry of Defense intends to sell them and buy MI-8 helicopters instead. The MIGs, estimated at US$8.5m, come with an all-or-none clause. The participation fee was set at $3,000 and bidders must also deposit 10% of the start price as security. Moldova inherited 32 Soviet-era MIG planes. Last time Moldova sold the jets was in 1997, when the then Defense Minister Valeriu Pasat struck a deal with the U.S. Government. In 2005, Pasat was prosecuted and jailed for making a bad deal, but was eventually acquitted.