[06SOFIA465] BULGARIA’S RESPONSE TO THE INDEPENDENT INQUIRY COMMITTEE FINDINGS

Published by Wikileaks & Bivol.bg

 date: 3/30/2006 11:11 refid: 06SOFIA465 origin: Embassy Sofia classification: UNCLASSIFIED destination: 06STATE40595 header: VZCZCXRO6867 RR RUEHAG RUEHDA RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG DE RUEHSF #0465 0891111 ZNR UUUUU ZZH R 301111Z MAR 06 FM AMEMBASSY SOFIA TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1682 INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK   UNCLAS SOFIA 000465    SIPDIS    STATE FOR IO/PSC/LIZ PARKER    SENSITIVE SIPDIS    E.O. 12958: N/A  TAGS: PREL, KFIN, PGOV, IZ, BU  SUBJECT: BULGARIA'S RESPONSE TO THE INDEPENDENT INQUIRY  COMMITTEE FINDINGS    Ref:  STATE 40595    1. (U) Per reftel, we are submitting information on the  actions of the Bulgarian government as a result of the  information discovered by the Independent Inquiry Committee  (IIC).    2. (U) In response to the release of the USG's "Duelfer  Report," the 39th Parliamentary Assembly of Bulgaria (2001-  2005) established a temporary Parliamentary committee on  February 25, 2004.  The committee was charged with  collecting and examining information relating to allegations  of illicit financing of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP)  by the Iraqi government through the Oil-for-Food program.  The Committee was comprised of 17 Members of Parliament and  led by Borislav Ralchev from the National Movement Simeon  Second (NMSS).  While the committee was initially supposed  to exist only for a month, its activities continued for 15  months, and the number of its members grew from 17 to 21 MPs  due to the size and complexity of the work.  The Bulgarian  government decided that, given the work and findings of the  Committee, there was no need to open a wider investigation  when the U.N.'s IIC report was subsequently released.    3. (U) During the course of its work, the Committee obtained  extensive documentation from various official and unofficial  institutions, and conducted interviews with 14 officials.  It issued its final report on May 17, 2005, and confirmed  that four Bulgarian companies had participated in the Oil-  for-Food program, but found no legal justification for  pursuing charges against them "simply because they were  involved in the program."  To date, the Bulgarian government  has taken no legal actions against the named companies.  The  report determined that BSP was registered as a beneficiary  of oil vouchers on the lists of the Iraqi oil company SOMO,  but found no evidence that BSP was financed by the regime of  Saddam Hussein through the Oil-for-Food program.    4. (SBU) At the Bulgarians request, we provided a  substantial number of source documents from the Duelfer  report, but these failed to shed any additional light on the  specific transactions of BSP related to the Oil-for-Food  program.    BEYRLE  

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