The Prosecutor's Office and the Ministry of Interior check documents only, turnovers, overnight stays, taxes and insurances are not examined.
Ms. Alexandrova, as a former head in the State Fund for Agriculture, you periodically bring out scandalous facts from the twilight zone. Can it be said that after the noisy Guest House campaign last year, the terrain has been cleared and justice has been restored?
Of course not. All in the fund are silent, everyone is trying to survive. And both consultants and beneficiaries are dissatisfied with the measures that are being implemented. Guest houses are just one example. Against the background of all the other monstrosities that happen in agriculture, they are just the least of our worries. First, because the amounts applied for are very small – in total it is a little over BGN 200 million. And every year in Bulgaria between BGN 1.1 and 1.3 billion are distributed in direct payments. Does anyone say where this money goes to, what is improving with it and in what direction are we going while pouring so much money in Bulgarian agriculture? So far, between 17 and 20 billion EU funds have been spent, but has anyone seen the results? We cried our head off about the order for the American fighters. But everyone keeps silent about the report of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, according to which the agricultural funds reach a total of 100 companies and in fact – up to a dozen people. This is omerta!
The public secret speaks of a small group of grain growers who are among the richest people in the country, but their names are never in the headlines.
They own huge amounts of land and can be determined as a threat to national security. As the land trade is free, if one of them decides to get rid of his business, he will sell a huge part of the most fertile Bulgarian lands to God knows whom and where. The legislator does not care about the topic.
Isn't it an issue of national security, albeit indirectly, that Bulgarian agriculture has been de-structured in favor of the same grain growers, thus traditional industries such as fruit growing, horticulture, and livestock production have suffered?
These are latifundia, we produce grain only and nothing else. And without any added value, without flour, pasta and even fodder. Everything is traded abroad as a raw material.
This business is said to be located in the vicinity of Lake Geneva
According to the Instagram profiles of the people in question, it is possible to find out where they work and where they entertain themselves. In Courchevel, for example, where an overnight stay is 2,000 euros, not only Vasil Bozhkov had fun. We are talking about collective festivities, including senior government officials – former directors of the SFA, former ministers, chairmen of associations.
Which ones, for example?
Only two of them were both SFA directors and ministers. Everyone can guess.
Let's go back to the guest houses.
These activities cover the previous programming period and continue in the current one. For the previous period, three documents admissions for guest houses were issued. One was signed by Kalina Ilieva, and the other two – by Rumen Porojanov. The affair has involved mainly five or six high-ranking officials, who stacked everything together. I can list them by name because the admissions are published on the fund's website. We start with Kalina Ilieva in 2009 – at the beginning of Boyko Boriov‘s terms of office. Then Porojanov processed and paid for them. In 2013, I found the projects in the SFA (at that time V. Alexandrova was the Deputy Executive Director of the Fund – author's note) – accepted and intact.
Where is the constituent element of the bargain?
In addition to these guest houses, the projects verified costs for jeeps, yachts, helicopters … A yacht with three cabins for Batak Dam, is that good? This is a scheme devised by the fund's managers and their consultants. In total, the projects for guest houses are 746. And the ministry checked 288 only, because they were the ones in a process of monitoring. Why didn't they get to know about the others – if they work as guest houses? A trip is enough. Whatever.
It turned out that out of 288 houses inspected, the owners of 253 were fined and only 23 were without violations. There is a rule when paying EU funds – you have the right to make a mistake while paying of up to 3 percent. Here the error is … 93 percent. This means that all the money must be borne by the national budget under the sanction of Brussels. Therefore, when I resigned, I left all the folders on the sofa of the SFA executive director – they had not to be signed. The scheme was clear, and I didn't want to be a rubber stamp. But Atnas Dobrev, Lozana Vasileva, Atidje Alieva, who came after me, signed them. Dobrev and Vasileva are currently deputy agriculture ministers, and Alieva is an MEP.
Other persons included in the scheme are the current director of the SFA, Vasil Grudev, Rumen Porojanov – who was a director twice and a minister, Taneva – a former and current minister. Let's not forget Kaloyan Kostadinov, who was arrested, then released and now he works there again. Unlike others who were fired after they were arrested. But Kaloyan is his father's son (this is Evtim Kostadinov, chairman of the Dossier Commission), and in our country many people are dependent on him…
What followed the noisy campaign around the guest houses and its rapid abatement, bearing in mind we have such an active Attorney General?
The Prosecutor's Office assigns formal inspections to the Ministry of Interior – on project documents only, and not in essence. Such as, for example, what turnover the guesthouse has, how many overnight stays are provided, what taxes are paid, are there people hired, under what contracts, are their insurances paid … In this way, phantoms can be traced and established, because taxes and social security contributions cannot be paid retrospectively.
Were there any broken deals and refunds?
No. The ministry boasts that they have imposed sanctions, but the money has not been returned yet – acts are being written, appeals are underway. An inquiry in the National Assembly revealed that 202 out of 258 beneficiaries were appealing the fines.
Are they appealing in court?
No, they are contested before the minister which is the most vicious issue. Deputy Prime Minister Mariana Nikolova became famous with letters, not accidentally called "Little Mariana", which cancelled the fines. Very few cases go to court because most complaints are resolved within the department.
I wonder if they are so naive in Brussels that they put up with these abuses?
They are not naive, they tend to see them, they send recommendations. On the other hand we tend to fudge them, assuring Brussels things are not like that. The other option is the signals to OLAF. However, OLAF in Bulgaria has crashed – in 13 years there have been more than 1,700 signals, 50-60 of which have been considered, only one indictment has been filed – against Minyo Staykov – but for other reasons. And it happens so because OLAF refers the cases to our prosecutor's office, which – after the relevant inspections – has formed a total of 21 files. Against the background of 746 guesthouses – 21 files! Isn't it embarrassing?
In top of all that documents for guesthouses are rumoured to be accepted again?
It was Kaloyan Kostadinov who admitted it at the conference of the Association of Agricultural Producers. Now, however, the guesthouses have been disguised as "Craft Houses." Covering up this "novelty" means that it appears in the regulation.
