Bulgarian state railways BDZ entire board of directors resigns
All three members on the board of directors of Bulgarian state railways BDZ resigned on November 8, at the request of Transport Minister Rossen Zhelyazkov.
The three were chairperson of the board, deputy transport minister Velik Zanchev, BDZ’s executive director Vladimir Vladimirov and the company’s chief financial officer Filip Alexiev.
Zhelyazkov, who was appointed to the transport portfolio in the September Cabinet reshuffle, ordered a full audit of the state railways. That audit will cover the physical state of BDZ’s rolling stock and its public tenders, Zhelyazkov told reporters.
He said that he requested the resignations because of the “poor communication and teamwork” of the BDZ board, as quoted by Bulgarian National Television. He said he would make a decision on which resignations to accept by November 14.
Some reports in Bulgarian media linked the resignations request to a report that Vladimirov allegedly sent to the State Agency for National Security (SANS), which reportedly raised concerns about the safety of BDZ’s operations.
Zhelyazkov said that Vladimirov denied sending such a report to SANS, daily 24 Chasa reported. “This report about issues appeared in the media, but I do not have such a report, it was not sent to me and, as I was told, no report was sent to SANS,” he was quoted as saying.
(BDZ train leaving the railway station at Bourgas on Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast. Photo: Railroader96)
