Fortus SA among the largest debtors to the state budget of the county of Iaşi

10 companies account for 548 million lei out of the 1.63 billion lei in state budget arrears of companies in the county of Iaşi.

According to the website of the Ministry of the Economy and Finances, the three largest companies if the county of Iaşi with state budget arrears include Fortus SA - 180.6 million lei, Construcţii Feroviare Moldova SA (Railway Constructions Moldova SA - ed. note) - 102.8 million lei, and Regia Autonomă de Transport Public (RATP) Iaşi - (Public Transportation Company Iaşi - ed. note), with 85 million lei. The next positions in the debtor rankings belong to Ubemar SA - 61.4 million lei, Terom SA - 45.8 million lei, Moldomobila SA - 35.5 million lei, Cosseli Prod - 21.6 million lei, and the Agency of Private Detectives of Moldova - "Zboina" - 21.6 million lei. The last two positions of the top ten state budget debtors are held by Lactis SA, (21 million lei), and BD Com SRL, with 18.6 million lei.

Fortus SA Iaşi is currently in bankruptcy due to having accrued huge debt to the state budget and to its suppliers. At the end of June 2009, the company had accumulated 284,084,230 lei in debt, with most of it, representing debt to the consolidated state budget (179,499,017 lei). However, most of the debt stems from payment obligations for which the company had either obtained payment facilities or their cancellation from Competition Council. As the state institution failed to sign the joint orders needed for granting the payment facilities, those debts still feature in the company"s balance sheet and served as a decisive factor in the bankruptcy proceeding of the Iaşi-based company.

However, insolvency did have a positive effect on the heavy machinery maker, meaning it helped protect it against its creditors, helping the company pare down losses. "This law helped ease the pressure on Fortus SA, meaning the company was able to make and receive payments", said Adrian Ababei, the receiver of Fortus SA. On a different note, however, he added that the "company"s turnover dropped as some of the company"s customers were reluctant to work with it due to its entering insolvency".