Subpoena Blunder Postpones Notorious Bulgaria Road Fund Case

Former Director of Bulgaria's Road Infrastructure Fund, Veselin Georgiev (l), who is charged with abuse of power and conflict of interests, sits in the courtroom Wednesday. Photo by BGNES

The Sofia City Court proved unable to find Wednesday 3 former ministers, who were summoned to testify in the case against the former Director of the Road Infrastructure Fund, Veselin Georgiev.

The ex Minister in charge of the EU Funds, Meglena Plugchieva, the ex Finance Minister, Plamen Oresharski, and ex European Affairs Minister, Gergana Passy, failed to appear before the magistrates. Their absence was explained by irregularly sent subpoenas.

The Prosecutor stated he insisted on having the 3 former ministers present and the Court ordered another attempt to locate them at their current addresses.

The magistrates heart testimony from Bulgaria's representative at the European Commission, Boyko Kotsev, who explained the motives of the EC to freeze intermediary payments for road projects – the case with former Road Fund employees, Ivan Lilov and Lyubomir Vladimirov, who were arrested for taking a bribe and the conflict of interests committed by Georgiev.

The next session was scheduled for April 20.

Veselin Georgiev aka Batko (Big Brother) is charged with abuse of power and conflict of interest as Director of the Road Fund, which he used to secure profits for his brothers.

Georgiev was forced into resignation from its Director's position in February 2008, after the two employees of the Fund were arrested while taking a bribe and the EC put a hold on the EU infrastructure subsidy payments due to conflict of interests.

The company "Binder" managed by Emil Georgiev, Veselin's younger brother, has received contracts from the fund valued at 120 M. Before taking over the Fund, Veselin Georgiev, has been one of "Binder's" managers. Another of the Georgiev brothers owns a business selling materials for road construction. There are allegations that his company has received BGN 200 M.

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