A senior Government official is to be fired as a result of an investigation by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
Olga Manafova, head of the State Agency for Metrology and Technical Surveillance (SAMTS), is being fired because the SAMTS laboratory did not function for two years while its employees continued to receive salaries. The laboratory is responsible for exercising control over the quality of fuels distributed in Bulgaria. The fact that it was not operational meant that for the past two years the state exercised no control over fuel distributors. Instead, companies used the services of private laboratories. Speaking on Bulgarian National Television (BNT) on December 17, Manafova said that the reason for the hiatus was that the laboratory was being repaired. This involved brand new equipment and training of staff. She said that matters could have gone faster and said that the delay was partly her fault.
“The lab is supposed to be functional at the beginning of next year, and the Economy and Energy Ministry, the principal of SAMTS, is well aware of that, and I am surprised about the news for my dismissal,” she said in a phone interview with BNT. “Apparently someone has to take responsibility for the situation, and if the Cabinet wants this, I will not argue against it,” Manafova said.
Speaking at a December 17 open session of the commission, Council of Ministers Chief Inspectorate head Nikolai Georgiev presented the dismissal of Manfova as a result of allegations of corruption at SAMTS. The ACC investigation had found most of allegations to be true, Georgiev said. “If nothing else, the fact that people were paid for two years without doing any kind of work means that there was misappropriation of state funds,” he said.
Bulgarian-language media reported earlier that this was not the first time that the SAMTC lab was the subject of allegations of corruption. In spring 2007, former employees of the lab sent a letter to Parliament accusing laboratory head Maya Topalova of corruption involving 30 million leva in uncollected fees and unimposed fines for the period between 2003 and 2005.
Allegations included concealing information about violations, behind-the-scene negotiations with fuel dealers, failure to issue criminal decrees and illegal conducting of arbitration tests. Parliament’s anti-corruption committee discussed the letter in June, but there were no consequences.
At the December 17 meeting, Georgiev presented the ACC results for 2007. He said that the ACC had not received any allegations against any Cabinet minister or deputy minister. One of the high-profile public servants who was the subject of an allegation was Konstantin Shoushoulov, head of the Asset Forfeiture Commission. Nothing was proved.
There was an investigation into alleged irregularities in the work of Justice Ministry’s Council for International Adoptions. The appointment this past summer of a new Justice Minister, Miglena Tacheva, meant new leadership, which meant that the issue was resolved. “However, the tip-off helped us find problems in the work of the council, which was very helpful,” Georgiev said.
In total, 131 public officials have been dismissed as a result of corruption allegations found to be true, he said.
Interior Minister Roumen Petkov said that his ministry had received 65 anonymous telephone tip-offs about alleged corruption among its employees, and a further 205 via the ministry’s website. Of these, 43 had led to dismissals.
Since the internet proved to be people’s preferred way to report alleged corruption, the ACC will launch its own website on December 21. The main focus will be the education and health sectors.
Sofia municipality and its companies had their share of the corruption stories of the past few days. Besides the high-profile controversy around allegations against Valentin Dimtirov, former head of the city’s heating utility Toplofikatsia, this time the focus was on Hristosko Vretenarov, head of a municipal company Tramcar, that repairs and maintains the city’s trams.
After a check into the financial state of the company on December 10, Vretenarov was alleged to have confessed to Sofia mayor Boiko Borissov and later a prosecutor that he had drained a total of 670 000 leva from the company. A formal investigation followed, and the municipal council put on hold the privatisation of the company.
In connection with the case against Vretenarov, on December 15 the Prosecutor-General’s Office questioned Yordan Vassilev, head of another municipal company, Elektrotransport, the company operating the trams. So far Tramcar has received a total of 3.5 million leva from Elektrotransport for tram repairs. “It is a coincidence that Tramcar received an order from Elektrotrаnsport worth 2.2 million leva on the same day that Vretenarov was arrested,” Vassilev told journalists.
On December 17, further information about the financial status of Tramcar emerged. As of the beginning of December, the company was in debt to a total of 1.7 million leva and had not paid its employees since August. The company owned 543 000 leva in salaries
Electricity provider CEZ and fixed telephone operator BTC sent letters threatening to cut off Tramcar because of unpaid bills. If found guilty, Vretenarov could face a sentence of 10 to 30 years, but given that he had confessed, it was likely that it would be 10 years, Sofia mayor Boiko Borissov told private national TV channel bTV.
