Scandalous Bulgarian Ex CEO Beat 845 in 1st SAPARD Job Contest

The fake German diploma of the former head of Bulgaria's Agriculture Fund, Kalina Ilieva, has been recognized by the Bulgarian Education Ministry. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria's notorious former CEO of the State Agriculture Fund was first hired at the agency as SAPARD program expert beating 845 other applicants for the same post.

The information was given in a Monday interview for the TV channel Nova Televizia by another former head of the fund, Dimitar Tadarakov - the person who first hired Ilieva.

Tadarakov said the procedure was strictly followed as in other job competitions and Ilieva was ranked among the top 40 along with the other 6 people who had foreign university diplomas.
The former CEO explained the exam has three parts – fluency in a foreign language, computer literacy and questions on the SAPARD program asked by a special committee.

After being ranked first and hired, Ilieva and the other junior experts were provided additional training.

Tadarakov pointed out that all correspondence with the EU anti-fraud office OLAF, with the Interior Ministry and the Prosecutor's Office was personally monitored by him when he was heading the Fund.

The ex CEO stated no one ever called to pressure him to hire Ilieva, but added the Fund has never before been managed by someone with so little experience and those who appointed her at the post must assume political responsibility.

"I hope Brussels would not halt SAPARD projects over the scandal. Ilieva's appointment had not been in violation of the law. But she was the reason for the frozen funding of many now suing in Strasbourg where 25 cases have already been filed," Tadarakov said.

Meanwhile, the Bulgarian daily "24 Chassa" (24 Hours) published an interview with Agriculture Minister, Miroslav Naydenov, who says rumors Ilieva was aiming for his post might be true.

"Maybe she was indeed so crazy she wanted to discredit me and then replace me," Naydenov says.

Kalina Ilieva was dismissed in October from the CEO post, after it became clear she gave birth and concealed her pregnancy from the Minister and everyone else and lied she gained weight because she had a tumor.

In 2009, Ilieva became head of the state agency handling payments from the European Union. She was 28 at the time.

Her job was to implement stricter oversight over EU-funded projects, after several corruption affairs saw Brussels sever aid to Bulgaria. The EU unblocked all aid in November 2009.

Ilieva now faces charges in both Bulgaria and Germany after it turned out that the diploma she produced before being hired, claiming to have graduated from the Berlin University for Engineering and Economics, was forged.

The scandal erupted at the end of last month, when it also emerged that she has flooded the EU anti-fraud agency with hundreds of fraud signals.

Officials have warned that the European Commission may press Bulgaria into paying back more than BGN 200 M as many of the blacklisted companies have won their cases against Ilieva in court.

Reports also say Bulgaria's Agriculture Minister Miroslav Naydenov's phone conversations have been tapped for more than six months as a result of a signal from the discredited former head of the Agriculture Fund.

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