Prosecutor’s office turns a blind eye to a crime of office in a municipality in Pazardzhik

In the last days of the pre-election political propaganda, a meeting between two political titans, one on the local and one on the national level, stirred the spirits of the public. Boyko Borissov, whose bedside table turned out to be full of 500 euros and gold bars, met with the mayor of Pazardzhik, Todor Popov. The latter became famous for living in a house with the village of Patalenitsa worth about 1.5 million, but its sale price would be 20-30% higher. And with his quality of being invisible to prosecutors despite obvious evidence of corruption schemes and damage he has done to the municipality. Pretty much like his boss, at least for now.

bTV alerted about the scandalous discrepancy between the lifestyle and the officially declared income of Mayor Popov back in 2015. The media report revealed that at the time the mayor’s official salary income was around BGN 2,000 a month, and he had not declared any savings for seven years before the construction of the the luxurious mansion in the village of Patalenitsa. The floor area of the main building is 420 sq m. From the drone footage, there is a covered swimming pool, a large house, a gym, an artificial river, with an artificial waterfall, expensive landscaping and several other buildings, including a greenhouse. While building the luxury property, Popov drove a car for about 100 000 leva.

As mayor, the former lawyer was involved in all kinds of corruption scandals. Some border on the absurd. For example, the one with the “fertilisation of the frogs” which plays a key role because of the specifics of the public procurement for the bridge to be built over Maritza near Pazardzhik. The competition is won by the favorite of the municipality of Pazardzhik – “Eco-Hydro 90”. The newspaper Sega and Mediapul say that the company offered a higher price than its competitors – BGN 1.319 million including VAT, but an amazingly short execution period – 40 days for the construction and only 2 days for the preparation of the project. In the case of the other bidders, the design was bid in 2 weeks and the implementation in about 200 days. A Varna-based association submitted a 95 000 BGN lower price, but lost the contract in the name of quick work.

It is not at all surprising that the deadline set by Eco-Hydro 90 is proving impossible to meet. Then the blame is cast on the frogs. Mayor Todor Popov declared publicly that the local Environmental Protection Agency had stopped the construction of the bridge for three months. Due to the breeding season of frogs. The head of the eco-inspection in the town – Kostadin Geshev, however, denied having dealt with frogs and a bridge.

Popov’s closeness to the Verbakov family, the unsuccessful buyers of CEZ, is also no secret. Who knows why neither the prosecutor’s office nor the KPKONPI take any action against Popov in the course of the checks against him. And there is no shortage of checks, signals and complaints against Popov. The former municipal councillor from Pazardzhik filed a complaint with the District Prosecutor’s Office in Pazardzhik under no. No. 1511/02.06.2015 against Todor Popov is for an offence committed in his official capacity. As a consequence of the offence, the appellant claims that significant detrimental effects have occurred. Pre-trial proceeding No. 192/2015 was initiated on Petkov’s complaint. against the mayor Todor Popov. However, the case was initiated under Article 219 of the Criminal Code for bankruptcy and is still “pending”. Supervising prosecutor Peacock Savov told bird.bg that the investigation is in its final stages and one or more officials will be charged. The prosecutor specified that “there is no personal case against Mr Popov”. Savovo clarified that the case is against an official of the municipality of Pazardzhik for insolvency, but could not disclose more details at this stage.

The story begins when “LEGAL AGENCY PETKOV & KOSTOVA” Ltd. decided to participate in a publicly announced tender for the sale of a land property owned by the municipality. To participate in the bidding, the company
pays a deposit of BGN 90000.00. The property in question is the parking lot in front of the hospital “Zdravve”, related to the businessman Mikhail Tikov, known to be close to Borisov and Peevski. The hospital does not hide its appetite to acquire it. According to the report of the auction committee and the Decision No. 220/31.10.2013 of the Municipal Council – Pazardzhik, the company was ranked second. By the same decision, the Municipal Council authorized Mayor Popov to conclude the privatization contract with the winner of the tender, retaining only its deposit. In this case, it is “DKC-I-Pazardzhik” Ltd (Tikov’s Health Hospital). In accordance with the terms of the tender, the deposit of the remaining participants, including “LEGAL AGENCY PETKOV & KOSTOVA” Ltd., should be released. However, this is not happening. In the established 14-
the second participant did not appeal within the appeal period. Moreover, by letter No 18-00 3240/19.11.2013 Pazardzhik Municipality was explicitly informed that the decision of the Municipal Council would not be appealed and that it should release the participation deposit of BGN 90 000. This should happen within 5 working days after the expiry of the 14-day appeal period. The alert alleges that the deposit was not released as a result of an oral order by Todor Popov.

On 03.12.2013 “LEGAL AGENCY PETKOV & KOSTOVA” Ltd. sent a notarial invitation to release their deposit The Municipality sent the company a letter that the District Prosecutor’s Office of Pazardzhik had protested Decision №220/31.10.2013 and there was an administrative case. However, the company has no legal interest and the municipality should return the money. It declares that it will not participate in this administrative process and therefore wishes to be deleted as an interested party. While the case was pending, Todor Popov signed a contract with Tikov’s medical facility. There is no factual or legal basis for the forfeiture of the deposit, but it persists in not being released.

Rumen Petkov has a conversation with Georgi Gaidarov – Director of the BOS Directorate in the municipality to find out the reasons for not returning the deposit. He understands from it that Mayor Popov had explicitly ordered him not to return the money, and Gaidarov did not dare to do anything, as his place would “cool”. His “inaction” was the idea of Tatiana Stoyanova (shot on 12.01.2015). She predicted that under pressure Rumen Petkov would be forced to stop “barking” in the Municipal Council and would obediently vote in line with the interests of the Coalition “Todor Popov for Pazardzhik”.

At a regular session of the Pazardzhik City Council Petkov asks the mayor why he does not return the deposit. The mayor mockingly states that he too would like Lili Ivanova to sing for him, but it won’t happen. In April 2014. Petkov also spoke with the Chairman of the Municipal Council Mr. Hari Haralampiev. He told him that after a conversation with the mayor, it was explained to him that this was a “personal relationship” and not to interfere. According to prosecutor Savov, however, in Petkov’s signal there is no evidence of unregulated pressure from the mayor. It did not contain information about a specific vote on which Petkov should have supported the coalition that nominated Todor Popov, so the prosecution could not investigate the hypothesis of unregulated pressure. According to Savov, in Rumen Petkov’s signal there were rather allegations that the withholding of the funds was to teach him a lesson. The state prosecution refused to disclose whether this “lesson” given by Popov to Petkov was a crime under the Criminal Code.

When he exhausted all other means, Petkov filed a complaint against the actions of the Municipal Council and an administrative case 360/2014 was initiated in the Administrative Court in Pazardzhik. While the court hearings are ongoing, another court panel revoked the decision of the Pazardzhik Municipal Council, which changed the status of the auctioned property from public municipal property to private property. The court ruling states that the Municipality of Pazardzhik has no right to sell this land at all.

After this court act “LEGAL AGENCY PETKOV & KOSTOVA” Ltd. now has a legal interest and brings a claim against the Municipality for the principal amount of 90,000 BGN and the interest on it. Commercial case 695/2014 of the District Court in Pazardzhik has been opened.

On January 20, 2015, the Mayor sent Atty. Shikova with the task of concluding an agreement with the plaintiffs. It proposes that the municipality should immediately pay the principal sum of BGN 90,000 and the interest due to that date in the amount of BGN 1,076. The agreement was approved by the court.

Petkov’s alert provides evidence that the municipality paid for the unjustified forfeited deposit of BGN 90,000, interest of BGN 1,076 and costs of BGN 9,854 following an alleged explicit order by Todor Popov for the forfeiture. Petkov claims that the damages caused, due to the fault of Mayor Popov, to the Municipality of Pazardzhik total 20330 BGN.

Although the case is clear and the damage done by the mayor is present, the prosecutor’s office has been dragging the investigation of the signal since 2015 and there are still no charges. And if there is, it is not clear whether Popov will be among those accused, or whether other “officials” will rob the peshkir. Thus, the “you chose it” model of chief Borissov also casts an umbrella over his subordinate mayors in the localities, who turn out to be untouchable.

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