Bulgaria: Further Financial Malpractices Disclosed at Defence Ministry

The Ministry of Defence has awarded public contracts without competitive tender designating the contractor directly. Despite the instructions by the Ministry of Finance to avoid pre-payment, 80% of the contracts were paid in advance, Defence Minister in the caretaker government Georgi Panayotov stated for BNT, adding that no market research had been conducted before the contracts were awarded.

Minister Panayotov stated further that one for the reasons for this is that many of the contracts contained classified information, and not all companies have right of access.

Minister Panayotov also commented on the contract for two warships being constructed at Bulgarian shipyards which cost 500 million euro, stating that the deal was a good one, but that the public in Bulgaria had been kept in the dark that the contract did not include the ship ammunition.