A ghost-company wants to upgrade the International Airport Balti-Ledoveni. This is about Polo-Invest - a Latvian company which has a registered capital of neither 3000 euros, and in October it was bought by a suspicious person from Tiraspol. Deschide.MD came into possession of documents from the Chamber of records from Riga confirming that this company is not a credible one. In turn, the Minister of Transport, Iurie Chirinciuc, says that he knows that the company is actually not active, however, the state would have nothing to lose from this contract. In addition - he said - the chances that a contract between Ministry of Transport and Roads Infrastructure (MTRI) and Polo-INVEST to be signed because the company requires Latvian state guarantees for its investments - MTRI a condition that can not meet, are not even very clear.

Firstly Polo Invest is not liable to VAT and has a capital of 2845 euros. In 2015 the company's revenue were 5285 euros and its registered losses - 168 euro. The company has only one employee and it paid taxes in the amount of 1.36 euros. The state tax that it paid it is 0.83 cents.

In October 2016, Polo Invest was bought by Veaceslav Likyorov, a dubious character from the Transnistrian region. He appears in an Deschide.MD investigation about people from Transnistria involved in organizing violent protests around the Great National Assembly Square on August 27 - on Independence Day.

He holds the position of Vice President of the Congress of Russian Communities of Moldova and was a member of the "Ravnopravie" movement. He was appointed as an observer to the so-called elections in Transnistria. However, Likyorov is also the deputy of the Supreme Ataman of the Union of Cossack troops from Russia and abroad. 

In 2015, in the Krasny Vinogradar village of the Dubasari district, he held a football tournament in memory of fallen separatists of the Transnistrian war with the participation of Likyorov. Also, he is an active participant in the informal meetings of the so-called experts, big "defenders" of the Moldovan statehood and of the pro-Russian vector, such as Ion Mahu, Anatol Plugaru, Nicolae Pascaru, Aurel Bucureanu etc. Namely in the framework of these "round tables", the former SIS Colonel, Ion Mahu, announced the creation of special detachments, ready to take up arms to "save Moldova". 

The Minister of Transport, Iurie Chirinciuc, told us that Polo Invest has sent them a request in late 2016 (note: after the company was bought by Likyorov) that expressed their intention to take in lease the International Airport Balti-Ledoveni. The contract would be valid for one year with possibility of renewal annually. 

"We studied the company's portfolio. We know that basically it does not work, but they showed us an account statement on which were 4.5 million euros. In general, we do not risk anything even if we sign the contract with them, but the problem is another - they want me to guarantee their investments. We replied them that we can not do that, and they will decide. Meanwhile, I understand that another company would like to submit a similar request. We will see which is most advantageous offer", declared to us the Minister Iurie Chirinciuc. 

The head of Transport told us that he head about Likyorov, but is not he who appears on papers and it is not him with whom the discussions are conducted. 

We publish below some shots from the Polo Invest project: