"Gazprom" appeals against decision to write off Chechens' gas debts

The authorities of Chechnya have decided to wait for the court judgement to write off the republic residents' debts for supplies of natural gas to enter into legal force, the republic's Prosecutor’s Office (PO) announced on January 18. These debts began accumulating when Grozny "lay in ruins," Mansur Soltaev, a member of the Public Chamber, has explained.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on January 16, the PO of Chechnya announced the decision of the Zavodskoy District Court of Grozny, which ordered the "Gazprom Mezhregiongaz Grozny" Limited Liability Company (LLC) to write off more than nine billion roubles of the population's debt for gas.

The LLC has filed an appeal against the decision of the above court, the Chechen PO announced on January 18.

On the same day, January 18, Sharpuddi Abdul-Kadyrov, the PO head, took part in an operative sitting held under the head of the Chechen government on writing off the gas debts, which hopeless to recover. At the sitting, Mr Abdul-Kadyrov explained that the receivables from the population for the supplied gas, which the court decided to write off, had accrued for the period up to November 30, 2015.

Mansur Soltaev, a member of the Public Chamber of Russia and the chairman of the commission on housing and utilities, construction and roads, noted that the debts in question had accrued at a time, when the population of Chechnya was in hard material and economic situation due to the military campaigns that passed in the region. "At that time, the population was jobless; and the unemployment rate exceeded 70%. Now, in recent years, residents are regularly paying for gas and electricity," Mr Soltaev has stated.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on January 19, 2019 at 03:19 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.