European prosecutors charge former mayor, ex-governor in probe into fishing port in Bulgaria’s Varna
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Bulgaria’s capital city Sofia said on October 11 that it had formally accused the former mayor and the ex-governor of Varna, as well as two public officials from the Executive Agency Maritime Administration, in an investigation into possible fraud, reported by European Anti-Fraud Office OLAF, involving the reconstruction of a fishing port.
The EPPO statement did not name those accused.
The four are accused of forging official documents and submitting false information, in order to illegally receive EU funds for a 3.4 million euro project, co-funded by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund.
At issue is a project to improve the infrastructure of an existing fishing port in the outskirts of Varna, submitted by Varna municipality (the beneficiary).
However, according to the investigation, such a port did not exist when the application for EU funding was submitted.
“Our investigation indicates that, in order to be able to benefit from EU funds, exclusively dedicated to the improvement of the infrastructure of existing fishing ports, the beneficiary assembled several pontoons as floating piers, with the sole purpose of registering the site as an existing harbour,” EPPO said.
In addition, the beneficiary presented false information and did not include all the documents required by the national legislation to obtain the necessary certificates, the statement said.
According to the investigation, the plots included in the application as an existing port were in fact registered in the cadastral plan of Varna as rocks, sand and other type of buildings – not as a harbour.
Based on the evidence, with the help of public officials from the Executive Agency Maritime Administration, the plots of land saw their characteristics modified as defined permanent usage “for a port” – thus misleading the Ministry of Transport, which issued a certificate attesting the operational suitability for a fishing port, despite the lack of multiple requirements defined by the national legislation.
The fishing port was later formally registered by the Executive Agency Maritime Administration.
The case was first reported to the EPPO by OLAF, after suspicions of possible serious irregularities and fraud and OLAF also conducted a complementary investigation under EPPO’s supervision.
The General Directorate National Police of Sofia conducted further investigations.
The estimated damage to the EU budget is approximately 2.8 million euro (5 603 035.97 leva), with an additional estimated damage to the national budget of 675 475 euro (1 321 115.78 leva), the statement said.
All persons involved are presumed innocent until proven guilty by the competent Bulgarian courts of law, EPPO said.
In a statement on October 11, the Yes Bulgaria party – part of the We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria coalition – said that the charges followed a report lodged with the prosecutors by Yes Bulgaria’s Stella Nikolova against former Varna mayor Ivan Portnih and former district governor Stoyan Pasev about 3.4 million euro fraud of funds allocated for the reconstruction of the defunct Karantina fishing port.
“I filed a report with the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, I testified as a whistleblower, and now these two, as well as everyone involved, will suffer the consequences. Finally, after four years, we have an indictment,” Nikolova said.
Portnih was mayor of Varna from July 2013 to November 2023, elected on the ticket of Boiko Borissov’s GERB party. Pasev served as district governor of Varna twice and in 2017 was a GERB MP.
Pasev, speaking to Nova Televizia, denied that he had been charged. He said that he was aware of the investigation and denied all wrongdoing.
“I am not charged, I am waiting for official confirmation. I don’t know who put this message out in the first place and why they are putting it out now. There is no indictment at this stage, nothing.”
“The information spread today about the pre-trial proceedings of the European Prosecutor’s Office against me is FALSE. Indictment according to the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code means the preparation of an indictment and its submission to the relevant court,” Portnih said on Facebook.
“The pre-trial proceedings have not ended at all. Numerous procedural and investigative actions are to be carried out on it. At the moment, I and my lawyers have not been duly notified by the independent prosecutor’s office of the European Union about filing an indictment in court,” he said.
“In view of the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code, at this stage of pre-trial proceedings no opinions, statements or assessments are made public, therefore I will not make them either. I am categorical in my position that it is inadmissible for the Bulgarian office of the European Prosecutor’s Office to be used for pre-election political goals,” Portnih said.
He said that the case was being used to attack GERB during an election campaign.
“The use of both Bulgarian and European institutions for pre-election purposes is unacceptable. I note that both the complainant and the expert in the case are candidate MPs from WCC-DB,” Portnih said.
(Photo: OLAF)
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