Bulgaria: Another Agriculture Businessman Testifies in Parliament, Gives Evidence of Racket

Yet another agriculture businessman showed up on in the National Assembly on Monday, May 10, to tell about the racketeering to which workers in this sector are subjected. Pavel Slavchov Stoimenov introduced himself as the largest vegetable producer in Bulgaria and owner of Agro-Bell 2001. "I will describe to you the main problems of our business, I have evidence", commented Stoimenov.

GERB MPs immediately protested and tried to thwart the hearing with a variety of arguments. They said it was unclear what the person wants to report and whether the subject is in the committee's subject matter. By the same logic, all 100 whistleblowers had to be heard.

"The issue at stake is the independence of the Bulgarian people. I voted for you, I personally brought you 1,000 votes", Stoimenov replied outraged by GERB's reluctance to listen to him. Asked if this meant he was paying for votes, he replied that he had simply urged workers and his family to vote for GERB. After this confession, GERB lawmakers let him speak.

Stoimenov explained that he wanted to talk about the racket in Stara Zagora adding that he decided to speak out after watching the arrogant behavior of the head of "Gradus" Ivan Angelov at the previous sitting of the committee.

"There is a cartel - G8 in Stara Zagora under the leadership of the head of "Gradus". We were forced to pay artificially low rents, not to buy farmland. Three of our offices were set on fire, and even my employee's house was burnt, as a warning. We rebuilt her house, but then they set it on fire again. The woman developed diabetes. Because of her, I am here," Stoimenov said.

"This company (G8) called us and said that we need to damage all the owners in the Stara Zagora region through the rent. We didn't...