Bulgaria to Try Former Ministers for Blatant Agriculture Abuses

"We can say that the land swap deals with forest plots pale in size in comparison to what has been done with the swapping of agricultural lands", Naydenov declared. Photo by BGNES

The former teams of Bulgaria's Agriculture Ministry have committed blatant large-scale violations with agricultural lands.

This was announced Friday by the new Agriculture Minister, Miroslav Naydenov, in the southern city of Smolyan.

"We can say that the land swap deals with forest plots pale in size in comparison to what has been done with the swapping of agricultural lands", Naydenov declared adding that he had ordered an inspection, BTA reported.

The Minister made it clear that the information he had received from the inspection so far was really worrying, and that some of the former Agriculture Ministers and members of the teams were very likely to be charge with abuses.

The violations are said to include deals with the lands of agriculture high schools around the country, and of the Agriculture Academy. According to Naydenov, the abuses are large-scale. The Ministry inspectors are working with the State National Security Agency and the prosecutor's office.

In the recent years, the Ministry of Agriculture has been turned into a real estate company; they never dealt with the issues of the agricultural producers", Naydenov said in Smolyan.

In 2001-2009, during the last two government terms, the Ministry of Agriculture was in the hands of the ethnic Turkish party Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS).

 

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