On auditing of historical debt owed by Moldovagaz

Proceeding from the results of the meeting of November 2, 2023, the Supervisory Board of Moldovagaz did not approve the Audit Report on the historical debt owed by Moldovagaz to the Gazprom Group companies for consumer gas supplies to the right bank of the Dniester, which had been published by the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Moldova on September 6, 2023.

The majority of the Supervisory Board members noted that the Report submitted for consideration is not a financial audit report in accordance with the International Standards on Auditing, as is separately mentioned in the text of the Report by its authors. In addition, the Report does not comply with the requirements to the audit independence, as there is a conflict of interest between one of its authors and Gazprom. The Moldovan party was notified of this circumstance in advance, but failed to take any actions to eliminate it.

Therefore, the Report, contrary to the agreements between Gazprom and the Government of the Republic of Moldova, does not constitute a proper final document reflecting the findings of an independent and reliable financial audit of the debt owed by Moldovagaz to the Gazprom Group companies, and hence cannot be considered as such.

It is important to reiterate that the conclusions present in the Report cannot have any influence on the amount and validity of said debt, all the more so as the existence of the debt is confirmed in the documents regularly signed by Gazprom and Moldovagaz and the relevant decisions of international arbitration.