The parliamentary committee on combating corruption has asked Bulgaria's Council of Ministers to provide a list of the 100 companies that received the largest amounts of funding from European Union programmes, Darik radio quoted the head of the committee Boiko Velikov as saying on December 1 2008.

Making these names known would lead to greater clarity and transparency in the use of EU funding, Velikov said, explaining that the information would not lead to sanctions for the companies involved.

The committee had received more than a dozen tip-offs about irregularities in the utilisation of funds under various European programmes, among them Sapard, ISPA and Phare, Velikov said.