Trial against Ex Bulgarian Health Minister on Hold over Illness

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 postponed Tuesday the trial against former Health Minister in the cabinet Borisov, Bozhidar Nanev.

The reason is that the other defendant in the case, the former Director of the Health Ministry's Budget and Accounting Department, Dimitrinka Nikolova, is hospitalized.

A document, mailed to the Court, states she has a serious health condition.

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, needed to counter the swine flu epidemic in the country at the time.

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."

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