New Audit Office Chair Demands Comprehensive Probe of Predecessor

Lidia Rumenova, Chair of Bulgaria's National Audit Office, photo by BGNES

Lidia Rumenova, the new Chair of Bulgaria's National Audit Office, has demanded a comprehensive inspection of the activity of the authority and the activities of her predecessor.

Rumenova, who was elected Chair of Bulgaria's National Audit Office in end-April, succeeding Valeri Dimitrov, announced in an interview for TV7 that she would ask Parliament to set up a commission of independent experts, not MPs, to conduct a full audit of the National Audit Office.

"During the term in office of the center-right GERB government, the collegiate principle of governance of the National Audit Office proved inconvenient and then-Chair of the National Audit Office Valeri Dimitrov imposed one-handed governance of the body," Rumenova said, as cited by dnevnik.bg.

She claimed that the fact that Parliament had not reviewed a single report of the National Audit Office in the past five years signaled a total lack of interest in the spending of public resources.

Rumenova vowed that all public procurement deals of the National Audit Office would be examined.

To illustrate her point, she noted that the repair of the National Audit Office HQ in Sofia had had a price tag of BGN 12 M, instead of the initially calculated BGN 6 M.

Rumenova adamantly rejected allegations that she was a political appointment and reiterated that she had never been a member of any party.

She assured that she would choose her deputies depending on their professionalism and teamwork capabilities and not according to party affiliation.

Rumenova informed that there were 100 vacancies at the National Audit Office for which competitions would be organized.

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