site.btaMedia Review: April 4

CORRUPTION INVESTIGATION AT CUSTOMS AGENCY

Thursday's news media cover at length the arrest of Customs Agency Director Petya Bankova. This is the first pre-trial proceeding of the new anti-corruption commission which started work on March 1. Bankova's lawyer Adelina Natina said no arrest warrant had been served but Bankova was being issued summonses every couple of hours and was still in the building of the anti-corruption commission. Natina told reporters Bankova held information that the drug money would be used for vote buying in the upcoming early elections.

Finance Minister Assen Vassilev appointed Bankova Customs Agency deputy director in August 2023 and director on February 20, 2024, shortly before the expected, but failed, cabinet rotation.

The Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) Wednesday said that seven persons, including Bankova and her deputy Lyudmil Marinov, were arrested for 24 hours following Wednesday's operation of the State Agency for National Security (SANS) and the anti-corruption commission. The information is unofficial but was confirmed by the Interior Ministry and the prosecution service. Details are to become known later on Thursday. The pre-trial proceeding targets an organized crime group involved in smuggling, money laundering, bribery and malfeasance in office. Officers searched homes and offices in Sofia, Haskovo and Pazardzhik Region. The BNR said 1,500 master cases of cigarettes were found which, according to its sources, were smuggled from Turkiye at very low prices to be repacked in Bulgaria and exported illegally to Western Europe at much higher prices.

Commenting on the arrest on BNR, expert Tihomir Bezlov from the Center for the Study of Democracy described it as "a pre-election operation". On the Bulgarian National Television (BNT), Bezlov said the claim that the proceeds from drug smuggling could have been used for vote buying was consistent with the lawyer's argument in the client's defence. The arrest of the Customs Agency director and deputy director was unprecedented in 34 years, the expert said.

Also on BNT, financial expert Lyubomir Karimanski said one should look at the 2023 State Budget Act, more specifically at the revenues from customs duties and fees. "The target was set at BGN 405 million, while revenues were reported at about BGN 323 million, a 20% shortfall. The question is if there were reforms in Customs during the term of [Nikolay Denkov's] government, did they lead to a higher collection rate?"

Interviewed by Nova TV, former Customs Agency director Emil Dimitrov said that no matter what the truth is, the damage done by the arrest is huge. As caretaker prime minister Dimitar Glavchev will have a tall order convincing the Schengen countries which oppose Bulgaria's entry by land that its borders are well protected if the Customs Agency's leadership is found to be involved in corruption schemes.

Commenting on Bankova's arrest on the BNT, Mihal Kambarev MP of Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) said it was either a pre-election gimmick, or the Customs Agency had broken up a smuggling ring financing someone's election campaign. He said that under Bankova, the Customs Agency reported a record-high increase in drug seizures. After a corruption tip-off from Austria, Bankova ordered a probe and 20 Customs officers were fired. The heads of key directorates in Sofia and Plovdiv and at the Kapitan Andreevo, Lesovo and Kalotina border checkpoints were replaced, 170 kg of cocaine were seized at the port of Burgas and 108 kg at Kulata checkpoint. On Wednesday, Bankova was scheduled to meet with the Austrian Ambassador about a possible posting of Austrian Customs officers to Bulgaria so as to make the system even better, the MP said.

Trud quotes Bankova as saying that she quit SANS because a few years ago, its chairperson, Plamen Tonchv, sent her to work in the southwestern town of Blagoevgrad, reportedly "to punish" her for her good performance. "This is their scheme - when someone stands in their way, they post him or her somewhere. So I said I would not act on their orders and quit SANS."

After a 15-hour sitting, Parliament set up three ad hoc committees, including one which is to probe corruption practices at the Customs Agency and the Finance Minister's role in them. The commission is headed by Toshko Yordanov MP of There Is Such a People. CC co-leader Kiril Petkov MP called the setting up of the commission "populism, pure and simple".

CABINET FORMATION

A story in 24 Chasa says caretaker prime minister-designate Dimitar Glavchev will be talking with experts in an effort to form a caretaker cabinet until the end of the one-week deadline. Glavchev has until Saturday to propose a line-up. The daily cites people in the know as saying that potential candidates may be picked from a cabinet proposed by neurosurgery professor Nikolay Gabrovsky, who was GERB's candidate for prime minister in 2022. His cabinet was made up of experts only but was backed by 113 MPs in the 240-seat Parliament and failed to be elected. The daily names potential candidates for ministers in Glavchev's caretaker cabinet, saying that changes are possible to the very end. Lyudmila Petkova, head of the Finance Ministry's Tax Policy Directorate, is reportedly one of the firm candidates for Finance Minister.

Trud says Glavchev's hands are tied by the lack of a caretaker government law and the latest revisions of the Constitution. MPs told the daily that lawyers and economists with experience in high-level public administration have refused to become ministers for a few months because they will have to leave their fixed-term positions. MPs say this is the first time there is a shortage of candidates for ministerial portfolios.

TURKSTREAM PROJECT

bTV interviewed MPs about the TurkStream gas pipeline and the roadmap for the project. On Wednesday, Parliament set up an ad hoc committee to look into the project but did not elect a chairperson. Iskren Arabadzhiev MP of CC-DB said the commission will be chaired by an MP named by Parliament Chair Rosen Zhelyazkov, which will not help the search for the truth. "We want to see if public procurement orders were pre-arranged and why Bulgaria built a pipeline it does not need," Arabadzhiev said.

For his part, Toma Bikov MP of GERB-UDF said TurkStream is the most profitable state-owned enterprise. "TurkStream has geopolitical significance and is entirely in Bulgaria's favour," he said. So far the project, which is fully owned by Bulgaria, has earned BGN 1.3 billion. It costs BGN 3 billion, which will be recouped by the end of 2025, Bikov said. He added that GERB is glad that an ad hoc committee will look into the project. Reacting to allegations that the project benefits Russia, the MP commented that the gas pipeline running through Ukraine brings more gas to Europe than TurkStream. As to the much disputed TurkStream roadmap, Bikov said that what CC-DB call a strategic document is actually a memo, an action plan. He argued that the document had not been missing because Kiril Petkov had asked for and received it when he was prime minister.

HOME AFFAIRS

Mediapool.bg and other dailies quote Der Spiegel as saying that an arms cache reportedly intended to be used for attacks on Jewish religious buildings in Germany was found in Bulgaria. The Interior Ministry confirmed to Nova TV that there was such a case and the investigators would give more details on Thursday. Quoting sources from the German Federal Criminal Police Office, Der Spiegel reported that an underground cache of arms and ammunition was found in Southern Bulgaria and was probably supposed to be used in Hamas attacks on Jewish targets in Germany, mostly in Berlin. Some of the arms were rusty and unfit for use. Nova TV said the German daily was referring to a March 28 operation in the southeastern Yambol Region.

Trud says information about the arms cache was obtained by analysing the mobile phone of one of four Palestinians arrested in Berlin and the Netherlands in December 2023, who were suspected of preparing arms depots for Hamas terrorist attacks in Europe. In mid-December, the German Federal Criminal Police Office found pictures of pistols, magazines and other parts in the mobile phone of one of those arrested. The photos were tracked to a location in Southern Bulgaria where the firearms were "buried in a bag under a tree".

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A front-page story in 24 Chasa headlined "Two Days after Bulgaria's Schengen Entry Mother Kidnaps Child to Belgium" says that since air border checks on passengers flying to and from Schengen countries were lifted on March 31, a parent can take a child abroad without the other parent's permission. Border guards stopped the mother from taking the boy with her in January and February when there were still checks for the other parent's permission. The father says that in the two years his two children lived with their mother in Belgium, they changed three schools and six rented apartments. They told a psychologist during the summer holidays in Bulgaria that they slept on the floor and were often left home alone, with the elder sister taking care of her brother. The daily also says that to make things worse, even if a parent refuses to grant permission for a child's trip abroad, only the Bulgarian authorities will have access to this information until a court rules on the case.

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Duma leads with the Socialist Party leader's accusation that the power holders protect monopolies and oligarchs by rejecting amendments to the Class Actions Act. Korneliya Ninova accused the ruling majority of lobbyism, saying that the law would provide for non-payment of fees for class action lawsuits, fast-track proceedings, and the option of joining a lawsuit in progress, among other provisions covering the full range of consumer goods and services in Bulgaria and the EU.

GAMBLING

On Wednesday, Parliament rejected draft amendments to the Gambling Act banning gambling advertising. The revisions were proposed by Vazrazhdane and were backed by BSP for Bulgaria and There Is Such a People. GERB-UDF, CC-DB and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms voted against. Luben Dilov MP of GERB argued against "trying to change human nature".

Based on Finance Ministry data, a front-page article in Trud says Bulgarians bet about BGN 2.6 billion and won nearly BGN 1.3 billion from gambling in 2023. Interest in gambling has increased by the year. Revenues from fees collected under the Gambling Act topped BGN 265.8 million, 10.77% more than the projected BGN 240 million. Nearly 2,000 people applied to join the register of vulnerable people in March, according to National Revenue Agency data. More than 8,100 have declared they want their access to gambling restricted since the start of 2024, and nearly 36,000 people have been added to the register since it was reinstated in 2022.

HEALTH

Interviewed by Trud, Assoc. Prof. Atanas Mangarov talks about the return of diseases which had been forgotten in Europe for decades, largely due to low vaccine coverage because during the coronavirus pandemic, "vaccine became something of a dirty word". Measles and pertussis are cases in point. With the new vaccine for pertussis, the immune response wears off after about four to five years. In addition, people vaccinated against pertussis with the modern vaccines can get infected and infect other people without having symptoms, which also applies to coronavirus vaccines. As to tuberculosis, malnutrition and poor living conditions are a prerequisite for its spread. In terms of tuberculosis, the world is now at the level it was around 1910. Tuberculosis goes along with the HIV infection: a person with HIV usually has tuberculosis and vice versa. As to scabies, it is associated with poor hygiene and poor living conditions. This is the case with refugees who have lived for months in extremely bad conditions. Mangarov also comments on recent reports that shortly before the European Parliament elections, the European Public Prosecutor's Office is investigating contacts between EC President Ursula von der Leyen and the Pfizer CEO regarding vaccine purchases in the EU. Mangarov says there are "indisputably grounds for such an investigation, because at least 10 vaccines were purchased for every EU citizen, of which huge quantities were then destroyed".

SOCIETY

The dailies have reports on the 20th anniversary of the death of 12 Bulgarian children as their bus plunged into the Lim River in Serbia on the way back from a school trip in Croatia. The father of 18-year-old Yulian Manzarov, who drowned in the river, said on BNR: "Children are dying every day and this is the worst problem, given the low birth rates."