Bulgarian PM Discloses Information on Returned Bonuses

According to estimates of Deputy PM and Finance Minister, Simeon Djankov, the total amount of the bonuses for 2010 and 2011 that senior officials must return is about BGN 200 000. File photo

Bulgaria is anticipating information Wednesday on senior officials returning or not their bonuses for 2010 and 2011, as this is the deadline to do so.

With the start of the week, Bulgarian Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, extended to Wednesday the deadline for ministers, their deputies, heads of political cabinets, regional governors and their deputies to return or donate all bonuses they have received.

The initial deadline was March 2 (Friday), but it was extended so that these officials can also return the amounts for 2011. According to estimates of Deputy PM and Finance Minister, Simeon Djankov, the total for the 2 years is about BGN 200 000. Most likely the money will be used for the cure of sick children.

After the cabinet's press center published the short-hand notes of the previous Council of Ministers meeting, it emerged that Borisov's Deputy and Interior Minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, will be proposing changes in the structure of the cabinet if it is established that there are senior officials, who failed to obey Borisov's order.

During the meeting, the Prime Minister had explained that until Friday, the task of calculating and collecting these bonuses is assigned to Djankov, while with the start of the new week Tsvetanov will be the one to plan the said changes.

"In this case, you have until Friday to deal with the "good" Djankov, otherwise on Monday the "bad" Tsvetanov will step forward," the PM had declared.

The Finance Ministry was supposed to announce by the end of the workday Friday how much money had been transferred to the special account opened by Djankov for the return of the bonuses, however, such announcement was not made.

Instead, at the last moment it was decided to first analyze "the action" for the return of the bonuses at the next meeting of the cabinet and disclose the results after it.

In a Monday interview for the private bTV channel, Borisov's Chief of Staff, Rumyana Bachvarova, declared that all Bulgarian officials on political positions have returned the first part of the bonuses they received in 2011.

The bonus scandal flared when it was revealed that senior officials are pocketing huge for Bulgarian standards bonuses while their regular wages are more than modest, and Borisov's ruling Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria party, GERB, and the opposition began exchanging mutual accusations of who has gotten what and more.

In recent days, the Head of the National Health Insurance Fund, NZOK, Neli Nesheva and the CEO of the Registry Agency, Violeta Nikolova, parted with their posts after it emerged that they have received huge bonuses in the amount of BGN thousands.

It was reported meanwhile that Nesheva's Deputy, Mariyana Vassileva, now temporarily in charge of NZOK, had also donated her bonus of BGN 15 000 for 2011 for charity.