Bulgarian PM Seeks Resignation of National Health Insurance Fund Chief

Neli Nesheva, NHIF Director, has vowed to donate to charities the BGN 12 500 bonus she received for 2011. Photo by Sophia Photo Agency

Commenting on the scandal with the director of Bulgaria's National Health Insurance Fund, Neli Nesheva, who was revealed Thursday to have pocketed a huge bonus for 2011, Prime Minister Borisov has called for her resignation.

Borisov announced Friday that he had requested the parliamentary group of center-right party GERB to ask Nesheva to step down.

The director of the National Health Insurance Fund has been appointed by the Parliament and can only be removed by the Parliament.

Nesheva gave a special press conference Thursday to respond to accusations by right-wing MP Dimo Gyaurov and admitted that she had received BGN 12 500 as a wage bonus for 2011.

The MP of the opposition rightist Union of Democratic Forces in his turn withdrew earlier claims that Nesheva had pocketed over BGN 30 000, saying that he had gotten the figure wrong due to "a technical error".

In her Friday statement, Nesheva vowed to donate her bonus to a charity foundation, Bulgarian Charities Aid Foundation (BCAF), which would receive the money on Monday.

Nesheva further apologized to patients and the media for the tone of the explanations she offered on Thursday.

"This was the tone of an embittered person and I apologize if anybody felt they were being preached to", Nesheva said.