Bulgaria: Former Interior Minister Charged Over BGN 1.48M Mismanagement

Former Acting Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev has been formally charged with causing financial damage to the state through mismanagement. He is accused of approving an unlawful price increase for services related to the production of Bulgarian identity documents, which allegedly resulted in losses amounting to 1,482,218 leva. A bail of 10,000 leva has been imposed as a measure of restraint.

According to the Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office, Demerdzhiev signed an additional agreement on June 2, 2023, during his tenure as acting Minister of the Interior, which raised the prices of activities under an existing contract for building a system to issue personal documents. This was allegedly done in violation of the Public Procurement Act and the ministry’s internal procurement rules.

Prosecutors argue that the price adjustment did not follow a methodology approved by the Council of Ministers, was not drafted by the relevant legal department, and lacked a market price assessment by certified experts. These procedural lapses are said to have led to considerable financial harm to the state.

The pre-trial proceedings began in January 2024, and the supervising prosecutor concluded that there is sufficient evidence to believe that a serious offense involving large-scale damages had been committed. The prosecution emphasized its commitment to establishing the full facts of the case and ensuring compliance with Bulgarian law.