Bulgaria's Ex Ethnic Turkish Party MP Claims Embezzlement Was Bribe

The latest embezzlement allegations against Ahmed Dogan (pictured) have been widely considered to be a litmus test for the government's willingness to fight high-level corruption. Photo by Sofia Photo Agency

The former Deputy Chair of the ethnic Turkish DPS party, Osman Oktay, has stated that the money, given to the DPS leader Ahmed Dogan for the “Tsankov Kamak” project, have been a bribe.

“The payment that Dogan has received is a bribe, so that “Minstroy” could participate in the “Tsankov Kamak” project, where BGN 400 M have been spent. For me, this is not only a conflict of interests. This is a bribe of huge sums and an abuse of power,” Oktay said Monday in an interview for the Bulgarian private TV channel bTV.

Last week, the parliamentary commission for corruption fight and conflict of interests decided that the Supreme Administrative Court had to be approached over alleged embezzlement by the leader of DPS of BGN 1,5 M as a consultant of four large-scale hydroelectricity projects, funded by the state - “Tsankov Kamak”, “Dospat”, “Gorna Arda”, and “Tundzha” Dam.

According to Oktay, it would not be serious to claim that Dogan is competent in the hydroengineering field, so the Prosecution's Office might qualify his actions as a crime.

“I have always stated that as long as I am present in the leadership of the party, I will not allow myself to be a branch in an economic group. This could be checked with the archives of different media,” the former deputy chair of DPS said.

Oktay has also stated that Dogan was in a close partnership with some businessmen, like Iliya Pavlov and Nikolay Valkanov.

“It was not a secret that throughout the years Dogan had worked closely with “Multigrpup” and that this was one of the biggest conflicts,” Oktay said, also adding that hundreds of millions were supposed to be made out of a secret deal with Valkanov.

The former DPS deputy chair has also stated that he was not afraid of potential attack by his former party and added that he was the only one who sued Dogan over calumny.

The embezzlement scandal erupted in May after a visit of Bulgaria's PM Boyko Borisov to the site of the hydroelectric power plant “Tsankov Kamak”, where he revealed that a huge hike in the initial price has been discovered.

The money for the hydro power plant "Tsankov Kamak", from where Dogan took the sky-high payment as an “expert”, were paid by the state-owned National Electricity Distribution Company, left in tatters after the ruling of the previous cabinet.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!