Bulgarian Customs Agency Has New Executive Director

The caretaker government continues with the staff reshuffle in the revenue agencies - Georgi Kostov was removed today from the management of the Customs Agency.This was announced by the Minister of Finance Assen Vassilev at a briefing, as quoted by bTV.

"There is a report from OLAF about serious damage inflicted to the European budget. According this report, by almost all criteria, the Bulgarian Customs Agency does not meet the required standards. Colleagues in the customs took relevant measures, but despite that OLAF sent us a letter of warning concerning 55 million euros, which Bulgaria needs to restore to the EU budget.

Tonev has 20 years of experience in the customs services, including as a director at the regional and national level. In 2013, during the Oresharski caretaker cabinet tenure, he was the head of the customs agency.