AVAS" accounts, emptied by the victims of the FNI fraud

• 133 million lei paid back since the beginning of the year

Ştefania Ciocîrlan

The accounts of the Authority for State Assets Recovery are being periodically emptied by the disbursements made to the victims of the National Investment Fund (FNI), which AVAS being barely able to get the money needed for paying the wages of its employees.

Sources from inside AVAS have confirmed that the organization is faced with financial difficulties, while it waits for the release of the 212 million lei loan from the treasury, which would allow it to make a part of the FNI-related payments.

"The law is forcing us to transfer any money that enters our accounts before payday to the victims of FNI", Mircea Ursache, the president of the AVAS, said.

"Even if we cash money one day before payday, according to the law, we are not allowed to keep it", he said.

Since the beginning of the year, AVAS has paid back around 33 million lei to the former depositors of the FNI. During the same period, AVAS earned at most 50-60 million lei, being required, on top of that, to pay a percentage of its earnings to social security, according to the chairman of the Authority.

"At times we may be late with paying wages, but that"s just how it is. We can only use the money that gets into our accounts starting on the first payday for paying our employees", Mr. Ursache said.

Things could get even worse, as AVAS is dependent on earnings from the privatizations of the companies it owns and from foreclosures. However, things aren"t looking that good, in either case. Two weeks ago, Mircea Ursache said that the foreclosures market is also affected by the current economic crisis. He also admitted at the time, that AVAS would make less money this year from privatizations.

At the beginning of April, AVAS requested a 212 million lei loan from the State Treasury, to compensate the victims of the FNI fraud.

AVAS has to make payments to 23,431 victims of the FNI as a result of four court orders.