Bulgarian Food Safety Agency chief dismissed
Acting on a recommendation by Agriculture Minister Dessislava Taneva, Prime Minister Boiko Borissov dismissed Plamen Mollov as head of the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency, the government said in a statement on the evening of May 22 2015.
Mollov had been in the post since his October 2013 appointment by the now-departed “Oresharski” administration, which in turn had demoted his predecessor.
Reports said that Mollov’s dismissal came a day after Aladin Hafran, owner of a major fast food chain, alleged that the agency racketeered food industry business people by charging large sums to avoid inspections. The allegations were joined by dairy industry figures.
Mollov has denied wrongdoing.
The agency will temporarily be headed by one of its deputy directors, Damian Iliev.
The Food Safety Agency was set up in 2011 through the amalgamation of various services, including the national veterinary service, whose head at the time, Yordan Voynov, became the first chief of the agency.
Voynov resigned in April 2013 at the request of the then-caretaker prime minister, Marin Raykov, over alleged irregularities in the signing of a contract with a private company to offer vehicle disinfection services at the Bulgarian -Turkish border.
Voynov was succeeded by Ventseslava Taseva-Sokolova, who when Mollov was appointed in October 2013, was demoted to deputy executive director of the agency.
