diff --git a/src/main/java/com/snowflake/kafka/connector/internal/SnowflakeConnectionServiceV1.java b/src/main/java/com/snowflake/kafka/connector/internal/SnowflakeConnectionServiceV1.java
index 569cf908e..6d7366193 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/snowflake/kafka/connector/internal/SnowflakeConnectionServiceV1.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/snowflake/kafka/connector/internal/SnowflakeConnectionServiceV1.java
@@ -535,7 +535,10 @@ public void dropStage(final String stageName)
   public void purgeStage(final String stageName, final List<String> files)
   {
     InternalUtils.assertNotEmpty("stageName", stageName);
-    removeFile(stageName, files);
+    for (String fileName : files)
+    {
+      removeFile(stageName, fileName);
+    }
     logInfo("purge {} files from stage: {}", files.size(), stageName);
   }
 
@@ -568,11 +571,11 @@ public void moveToTableStage(final String tableName, final String stageName
       {
         throw SnowflakeErrors.ERROR_2003.getException(e);
       }
+      //remove
+      removeFile(stageName, name);
       logInfo("moved file: {} from stage: {} to table stage: {}", name,
         stageName, tableName);
     }
-    //remove
-    removeFile(stageName, files);
   }
 
   @Override
@@ -774,36 +777,27 @@ private String pipeDefinition(String tableName, String stageName)
    * Remove one file from given stage
    *
    * @param stageName stage name
-   * @param fileList  file names list
+   * @param fileName  file name
    */
-  private void removeFile(String stageName, List<String> fileList)
+  private void removeFile(String stageName, String fileName)
   {
-    if (fileList.size() == 0)
-    {
-      return;
-    }
     InternalUtils.assertNotEmpty("stageName", stageName);
+    String query = "rm @" + stageName + "/" + fileName;
+
     try
     {
       InternalUtils.backoffAndRetry(telemetry,
-          () ->
-          {
-            String query = "";
-            for (String fileName : fileList)
-            {
-              query = query + "rm @" + stageName + "/" + fileName + "; ";
-            }
-            Statement stmt = conn.createStatement();
-            stmt.unwrap(SnowflakeStatement.class).setParameter("MULTI_STATEMENT_COUNT", fileList.size());
-            stmt.execute(query);
-            stmt.close();
-            return true;
-          }
-      );
+        () ->
+        {
+          PreparedStatement stmt = conn.prepareStatement(query);
+          stmt.execute();
+          stmt.close();
+          return true;
+        });
     } catch (Exception e)
     {
       throw SnowflakeErrors.ERROR_2001.getException(e);
     }
-    logDebug("deleted {} files from stage {}", fileList.size(), stageName);
+    logDebug("deleted {} from stage {}", fileName, stageName);
   }
 }