Bulgaria Ex Minister Key Suspect in Govt Corruption Crackdown

The charges that are expected to be raised against the former Agriculture Minister Valeri Tsvetanov (pictured) are said to be the strongest card in Borisov's hands. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria's national investigation service has summoned the former agriculture minister over fraud allegations as the new center-right government seeks to convince Brussels it wages an all-out war on corruption and organized crime.

Valeri Tsvetanov, former agriculture minister, and Stefan Yurukov, former head of the forest agency, will be charged with making illegal land swaps, one of the most widely spread corruption schemes during the previous Socialist-led government.

"The two are expected to turn up at the National Investigative Service on Tuesday morning," Sofia City Prosecutor Nikolay Kokinov said the same day, but refused to disclose any details.

In his first euro-test, Bulgaria's Prime Minister Boyko Borissov is leaving for Brussels on Wednesday, where he is due to present cases and evidence that the country is able to absorb transparently European aid.

The charges that are expected to be raised against the former agriculture minister are said to be the strongest card in Borisov's hands.

The previous parliament imposed a ban on all land swaps in January under pressure from dozens of environmental groups.

It was namely the GERB party of Borisov, backed by environmentalists, which raised alarm over of large-scale land swaps at the beginning of May.

Nearly fifty deals, in which state-owned land was allegedly swapped for private plots in less attractive or lower-priced parts of the country, have been greenlighted by the State Forest Agency at the beginning of the year before the ban on them was promulgated, GERB representatives said.

They presented a list of the land swaps, the majority of which concern plots along the Black Sea coast and in the mountain resorts. The state has set a price ranging between BGN 0,24 to BGN 27 per square meter, way down below the market price of EUR 100 per square meter.

State administration officials are suspected of having close links with politicians whose vested interests the land swaps served.

DETAILS EXPECT SOON

 

 

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