site.btaYes, Bulgaria Party to Alert Prosecution about Businessman Hristo Kovachki's "Illegitimate Influence" on Local Authorities

The Yes, Bulgaria party, part of the opposition parliamentary group of Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria, will file a complaint with the prosecution service about the illegitimate influence that energy mogul Hristo Kovachki clearly exerts on local authorities, Yes, Bulgaria Co-chair Bozhidar Bozhanov told journalists here on Wednesday. According to Bozhanov, the Bobov Dol thermal power plant continues to pollute the air in the area, and the State is doing nothing about it.

"The protection that Kovachki clearly enjoys from the Government and the prosecution service is one of our arguments for a vote of no confidence," Bozhanov added. He announced that the reasoning for the no-confidence motion against the Government of Rosen Zhelyazkov are almost ready and will be submitted in the coming days, with the topic being internal security and justice. 

Yes, Bulgaria Co-chair Ivaylo Mirchev recalled that a few months ago, the Anti-Corruption Fund had presented an investigation on the subject. "We raised the alarm, but nothing has happened as a result. The story of Kovachki and his power plants, which are poisoning people where they are located, continues," Mirchev said. 

He introduced to journalists in Parliament Daniela Toneva, a civil activist who recently published online a video with the Chairman of the Municipal Council in Bobov Dol, where another coal-fired plant of Kovachki is located. "She published a video in which the Bobov Dol Municipal Council Chair says that Mr. Kovachki summons him every week to 'beat him up'. After Ms. Toneva published this video, the result was that while she was sleeping, a stone was thrown at her house, her window was broken, and her car was splattered with paint. She is a civil activist, fighting for clean air, and lives in a small village with about 30 houses - the village of Shatrovo, Bobov Dol Municipality," Mirchev explained.

Toneva said that she had filed a number of reports about air pollution.