The Bulgarian prosecution will receive a massive package of documents, collected through cooperation with national and foreign services, to investigate complex corruption schemes. „The volume of evidence is extremely large. Today it will be presented to the attention of the Bulgarian prosecution, and we expect their declaration that they will work decisively to turn into actions, to use these materials, which are numerous and categorical, and in turn, to do their job properly“, stated Minister of Interior Ivan Demerdzhiev.
A presentation on the actions of institutions against corruption was held in the Granite Hall of the Council of Ministers. Prime Minister Rumen Radev, Minister of Interior Ivan Demerdzhiev, Minister of Innovation and Digital Transformation Ivan Vasilev, Chairman of DANS Plamen Tonchev, and Acting Secretary General of the MoI Chief Commissioner Lyubomir Nikolov appeared before the media.
One of the most unexpected revelations is related to guardrails, which have become the subject of intensive scrutiny. According to Demerdzhiev, four companies have built a monopoly on supplies, with their contracts being indexed by over 150 million euros. These firms have links to political figures and a Bulgarian diplomatic representative. During the briefing, the Minister explained that funds from these public procurements were transferred to a company with no real activity, called a «piggy bank company», to finance the costs of flights for the DPS leader Delyan Peevski. The value of these 36 flights exceeds 5 million euros. „I never thought there could be a link between the supply of guardrails and Peevski's flights. The work on these cases shows that political, economic, and all sorts of other interests are intertwined to such a degree that absolutely unexpected interconnections can be established. To me, it is inexplicable how planes, yachts, and other similar things can be bought with money from public procurement for guardrails“, the Minister shared.
The investigation reveals that the company paying for the flights is owned by the father of the Bulgarian ambassador to the United Arab Emirates. This raises the question of whether the ambassador's diplomatic appointment was not a result of the actions of his father's company. The Minister added that the scheme works as follows: guardrail orders are issued and indexed, part of the money goes to the «piggy bank company», and it invests the resource into covering flight expenses.
The name of GERB MP Vladislav Goranov, who is under «Magnitsky» sanctions, also emerged within the investigation. He is the landlord of a property that has been leased to one of the four companies for a significant sum. Demerdzhiev commented that this is an example of circumventing «Magnitsky» sanctions, suggesting that Goranov decided to lease his property to one of these companies «quite accidentally». Regarding his connection to Boyko Borisov, the Minister noted that since it has been established that Mr. Borisov knows Mr. Goranov and included him in the lists from which he was elected as an MP, „the obvious close connection between Mr. Goranov and Mr. Borisov is clear“, emphasizing that at the moment, this is limited to categorically established media reports.
The investigation of public procurement schemes is important for all citizens, including the residents of Burgas region, as it affects the transparency of state budget management.
The Interior Minister emphasized that these schemes were previously «taboo» for law enforcement agencies, but now the work has started from scratch and results have been achieved in just a few months. He also recalled his earlier data from early July, according to which between 2018 and 2026, the DPS leader performed 227 flights from Sofia Airport, 181 of which were in private planes valued at 1.8 million euros. „Certain companies win public procurements, part of the resource is diverted, and a large part of this resource is used for such activities, to cover the expenses of political leaders“, Demerdzhiev explained.