Bulgaria's Ex Health Minister Faces Speedy Court Trial

Former Health Minister, Bozhidar Nanev, is the first Minister from the GERB cabinet to be tried in a court of law. Photo by BGNES

The Sofia City Court accepted Wednesday the former Health Minister, Bozhidar Nanev's defense council request to try the case under the speedy procedure.

The speedy procedure alleviates the process because the defendant accepts the accounts of the witnesses meaning they will be called only once. It does not mean, however, the defendant is pleading guilty.

A representative of the Finance Ministry, who was summoned, failed to appear during the first session of the trial against Nanev.

Only three witnesses will have to come to the courtroom in person; the accounts of another nine will be read for the magistrates.

The other defendant, Dimitrinka Nikolova, former Head of the Budget and Accounting Directorate at the Health Ministry, was also in the courtroom. She now works in the corporate clients department of the Cooperative Bank, while Nanev is working as a surgeon.

In July 2009, Nanev was appointed as the first Health Minister of the newly elected cabinet of the center-right Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party. He resigned from the post at the end of March, 2010, after prosecutors indicted him for concluding deals unfavorable for the State by signing two contracts with the "Roche Bulgaria" company for the delivery of the antiviral medicine Tamiflu.

The contracts were approved on December 16, 2010 for 200 000 dozes of Tamiflu.

The damages for the Ministry are calculated at BGN 2 454 319.20, which is the difference between the price offered by the British National Health Services through the British Embassy in Sofia and the price negotiated by the Ministry with "Roche Bulgaria."

"I have always been doing my ministerial job in the most responsible manner. I did what was allowed by the law. I am convinced exactly this actions on my part have saved hundreds of human lives and have helped many people be in good health," Nanev stated after the court session, adding he is not worried about the outcome at all because there is no evidence of crime.

When asked if he felt he had fallen victim of Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov's PR and ratings, the former Minister replied that "there is no room for feelings in this matter."

The Head of the Contagious Diseases Control at the Health Ministry, Dr. Angel Kunchev, said that from a medical viewpoint, the only way to battle the flu epidemics is to provide anti-viral medication, and this winter the dozes secured by Nanev have been used in the latest flu epidemic.

Nanev is the first Minister from the GERB cabinet to be tried in a court of law.

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