Five Ministers in Possible Conflict of Interests

Снимка: dnevnik.bg None of the ministers has pointed being connected to political or business partners they could depend on

Five ministers from Boyko Borissov’s cabinet declared before the parliamentary Committee for Combating Corruption they could happen to fall into conflict of interests with relatives or close people of theirs. These are Minister of Healthcare Bozhidar Nanev, Minister of Regional Development and Public Works Rossen Plevneliev, Minister of Agriculture Miroslav Naidenov, Minister of Culture Vezhdi Rashidov, and Minister of Labour and Social Policy Totyu Mladenov. Minister of Economy, Energy and Tourism Traicho Traikov declared that a week after taking ministerial office he was still procurator of EVN Bulgaria Electricity Distribution and EVN Bulgaria Central Heating. By logic, and by law, the two activities are incompatible for as minister Traikov should regulate the energy sector and make decisions or propose solutions on the future of big deals, the likes of which the company he used to work with participates. That’s why the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) suspected him in conflict of interests over the government’s decision to resume the Gorna Arda project, and today it even demanded his resignation due to the retraction of Germany’s RWE, which was selected strategic partner to the National Electricity Company (NEC) for the NPP Belene construction project. In his declaration Traikov states on August 3 he had undertaken moves for terminating his relations with the company. And this is a day after the deadline set by the anti-corruption committee. Also after this date their declarations have submitted Rossen Plevneliev and Totyu Mladenov. The deadline for declaring interests is 7 days after the day of appointment, and the penalty for violating the rule is of BGN 1,000 to BGN 3,000.