site.btaFormer Road Infrastructure Agency Chief Lazarov Charged with Inflicting Lv 41.6 Mln Detriment

Former Road Infrastructure Agency Chief Lazarov Charged with Inflicting Lv 41.6 Mln Detriment

Sofia, June 21 (BTA) - The Specialized Anticorruption Unit with the Sofia City Prosecution Office has charged former Road Infrastructure Agency (RIA) Management Board chairman Lazar Lazarov with mismanagement as a result of which the RIA allegedly sustained detriment amounting to 41,630,050 leva, the prosecution service said in a press release on Wednesday.

The investigation against Lazarov began on September 17, 2016. He resigned in late November for what he cited as personal reasons. In April 2017, the State Agency for National Security and the prosecution service raided the RIA, acting on an alert from the European Anti-Fraud Agency (OLAF) in connection with Lot 1 of the Maritsa Motorway.

Prosecutors have gathered evidence showing that between August 7, 2014 and June 30, 2015 in Sofia, in his capacity as public official, Lazarov intentionally failed to take sufficient care of the management of the RIA's property upon the construction of Lot 1 of the Maritsa Motorway. He concluded a public procurement contract for nearly 42,987,400 leva before VAT for building and erection works on the motorway with Patishta Plovdiv AD even though a contract for the construction of the motorway had already been concluded in August 2011 with C.M.C. di Ravenna. Lazarov did not check the need of these building works, and estimates of the public procurement cost were not made, either, the press release specified.

Lazarov has been released on his own recognizance. The investigation of the case is in progress.