Geshev crushed the investigation of construction companies chased by Laura Kovesi. They won’t refund the money.

Geshev’s Prosecutor’s Office has crushed an investigation into the abuse of EU funds, which Kovesi’s European Public Prosecutor’s Office pursued with arrests of equipment and searches of construction companies. The file, terminated with no evidence of crimes, was seized from Kövesi in Luxembourg, BIRD.BG learned. At the same time, construction companies close to the government, which had to return “absorbed” European funds, will not return a single cent because the acts for the recovery of the illegal funding were illiterate and fell in court.

In a joint investigation of Bivol, BOETS and BIRD from January 2021,
we told
about huge abuses related to the construction of the Russian-Turkish Stream. Or rather, the Erdogan-Putin Stream. Of course, the abuses around this enslaving and financially burying energy “project” are countless, but in this case specifically we were talking about seven construction companies close to the government, which had to return funds “absorbed” under EU funding. The common thing in this seven-company constellation is that all legal entities are – in one way or another, close to the infamous “GP Group”, a forgotten hero of the
GPGate
scandal.

In the last weeks and months of the empowered Borisov, the Economy Ministry (and indirectly Tomislav Donchev) half-heartedly admitted that in fact 100% financial corrections have been imposed – i.e. companies must return all the funding received. As always happens in Bulgaria, however, the devil is in the details. We know from bitter experience that acts of financial corrections are usually written so that they fall in court. In a way, you see, we had the desire, but the court decided otherwise. Our investigations over the past few months
, such as
the SFA and mother-in-law houses, show how this “technique” is perfect. In the same way, the wolf is full, and the lamb is whole – and the masraffe is always robbed always and only by the taxpayers. Guided by this iron principle, we decided to check the issue with these seven offending companies.

The results proved deplorable. Although not all cases are finally closed at this stage, the balance (at least for now) turned out to be a firm NO in favor of the state. Below we will tell you why and how.

At the same time, in a story that has developed literally in the last few days, EPPO accused
nine companies
of misuse of EU funds under the Innovation and Competitiveness Program and announced that it was investigating them. As a check in the information system of UMIS and the BRRD search engine showed, the projects of these companies turned out to be written under indigo and for the same equipment – dumpers and loaders, which instead of working as intended, was detected years later at the construction of the Turkish Stream, and then on the yellow bricks of the protests of the “roadmen”, directed by GERB.

These nine companies largely overlap with the aforementioned seven. In other words, most of the companies that have to return EU funds administratively have already been investigated under criminal law. But, everything in its order.

Financial corrections cases benefit firms

We start in order. First is TK DREAM BUILD Ltd. On 26.10.2021, the state, represented by the Operational Program Innovation and Competitiveness (OPIC), lost a case for BGN 1.5 million. The ACSC (Case 8942/2020) revokes the correction imposed by OPIC, and on top of that it orders them to pay BGN 23,000 in costs. Especially worrying in this case is that there is no cassation appeal! Strange why?

Next in line is KVP GROUP Ltd., there the story is practically identical. In case 8242/2020, the ACSC was again canceled an adjustment of BGN 1.5 million, and OPIC was ordered to pay BGN 21,000 in costs. The decision is currently being appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court.

We’re switching to TC BUILD Ltd. In Case 8584/2022, on 02.03.2022, a financial correction for BGN 1.5 million was canceled – and the state authority was charged with another BGN 20,000 in costs. In the same way things are with CONSULTENGINEERING Ltd. (case of ACSC 8856/2020) – BGN 1.5 million canceled financial correction, BGN 20,000 awarded costs. At least this decision is being appealed at the moment.

However, there are also cases in which cases are finally lost. For example, this is Case 10857/2020 of the Supreme Administrative Court, finally lost on 18.02.2021. The canceled financial correction amounts to half a million leva, and the state has been ordered to pay to NOVA STROY TEAM EOOD the modest amount of BGN 15,000 expenses.

The cases of the other companies, namely AMBER OIL EOOD and VERDA 008 , are still pending and unfinished. And here we come to the icing on the cake – a rather obvious and disturbing lack! A case for KARO TRADING LTD cannot be found in the registry system of the courts. From which only two possible conclusions follow: either the company has not actually been imposed a financial correction (unlike all other companies), or it has paid it without appealing. In view of the behaviour and the common affiliates in this plethora of firms, the latter is rather unlikely.

Here is the time to recall that just recently BIVOL
consecrated
the owner of the company Krassi Carotto as close to the gray cardinal and Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Agriculture Atanas Dobrev. Alexander Dunchev, a longtime advocate for sustainable forest development and tireless opponent of the wooden mafia in Bulgaria, points to Dobrev as the silent umbrella for the vicious practices in state forests – and in several consecutive governments, including the current one. Apparently, the bulb has found a tail – and perhaps this explains to some extent why the KARO enjoys special treatment from the state.

What is the prosecutor’s office doing?…

As always, nothing. Or rather, imitation of activity. Shakes the train – Brezhnevsky – to simulate movement. As the chief prosecutor Geshev likes to say, “we owe actions, not results.” In this case, however, it is not even possible to understand what the actions are, as a prosecutor’s decree for non-initiation of pre-trial proceedings is kept secret and does not see the light of day. The prosecutor’s file opened in connection with our 2020 investigation into the misuse of EU funds by construction companies has been terminated expressly, only 3-4 months after the formation (in March 2021). Of course, as already mentioned, with a refusal to initiate pre-trial proceedings. The motives of the anonymous prosecutor remain, as always, secret.

Dated 25 February, however, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office has requested the 10110/2020 file from the Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office. From here, as well as from the
EPPO press release
of March 25, the second episode of this saga begins. Hopefully, with a different result.

Of course, the legitimate question immediately arises: why did the “home” prosecution crush everything at the level of a preliminary inspection, while the European Public Prosecutor’s Office in a very short time initiated pre-trial proceedings and even foreclosed the means of the criminal act – so favorite of Chief Borisov dump trucks, trucks, rollers and other “toys”. Another question that we will never get an answer to.

In a comfortable fog and “rahat” (in the
words
of the unforgettable Mitko Viber from the SJC) lies the prosecutor’s investigation against “GP Group” itself. For 4 years now, the investigation has blissfully been cycling in the unique Specialized Prosecutor’s Office, for which time the SP did not find it necessary to inform the public what exactly was working on the investigation – and whether it was working at all. Our investigation revealed that at the very beginning the prosecutor’s office had blocked money transfers and had imposed distraints on the accounts of the company’s owners. Specifically:

• Order in Case P-47/2018 of the CAC of 18.12.2018 confirms the attachment imposed on the account of Georgi Vassilev in the amount of EUR 15 million. It seems that the Vassilev in question tried to transfer the amount abroad, which imposed the attachment.
• Order in Case SP-10/2019 of the SAS confirms a new distraint on the account of the same Vassilev in the amount of $ 25,000 – namely, dividends received from GP Group.
• A ruling in Case SP-27/2019 of the SAS confirms the attachment imposed on the account of the other owner of GP Group, Vladimir Zhitenski, amounting to BGN 150,000, again originating in distributed company dividends.

Nothing else about this investigation in Bulgaria is known to this day, but it is known that OLAF is also working on the file. So far, a check in the registry office of the PRB shows only that the supervising prosecutor wants more and more violations of the investigation period. And he gets them. How long it is not clear. Maybe until the second coming. Thanks to legal amendments passed by the legal-Gerber blade Barney Rubble (at the backstage but strong insistence of one Sotir), prosecutors no longer have a legally regulated deadline for investigation. And so they can investigate for as long as their soul wants… or directly until the expiration of the absolute statute of limitations. Or to a thunderous action by Kovesi, which will demonstrate once again that there is no prosecutor’s office in Bulgaria, but there is a cover-up.

Thanks to
an article
in Capital, however, we understand that in fact Vassilev has been living in Dubai for years – “a destination known for the difficulties of European authorities to obtain extradition of criminal defendants.” Separately, soon after his indictment, he struck-up assets worth tens of millions. Similar to the recently sanctioned Peevski. And like a “tough and great builder” (Bell. row. the owner of Hydro-Vodstroy Veliko Zhelev), who, according to Minister Rashkov, has quickly transferred 20 million euros in the direction of Dubai, shortly after the Ministry of Interior launched an investigation along the Hemus highway. Which the Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office subsequently sabotaged in a scandalous and outrageous way.

It’s Laura now.

As mentioned above, the recently delegated European prosecutors have stepped up on the issue of benefiting construction companies. Now we have to see – and we can only hope – that their results will be different from those of the Bulgarian cover-up. We have every reason to believe that, however. During Laura Kövesi’s visit to Sofia on 16-17 March, the European Chief Prosecutor insisted on a separate building, infrastructure and registry for the European Delegated Prosecutors. It seems that the use of the physical infrastructure of the Sofia Regional Prosecutor’s Office provides an opportunity for unauthorized access to and “djurkane” of the EPPO registry system. Thus, the investigated persons could receive a timely warning – and also dust in the direction of Dubai (for example). The Minister of Justice made an explicit commitment that a “Chinese wall” will be literally erected between the European Delegated Prosecutors and everyone else. Moreover, Minister Yordanova promised that if the SJC does not find it important and needs to provide a separate building for EPPO, the executive will take care of this. In a nutshell, the European Delegated Prosecutors will be given full support and given absolutely everything they need, to investigate fully, efficiently and quickly. And without the mediation and strainer of the Gesheva SCP. Because it is extremely telling that when Kovesi was asked bluntly on BTV “Do you trust Ivan Geshev?”, she frowned and just said: “No comment“. Things are crystal clear, basically. Visible even from space. Even without a diesel rocket.

***

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