ANTICORRUPTION UNIT LAUNCHED INVESTIGATION IN IRRIGATION SYSTEMS STATE-OWNED COMPANY

The specialized Anticorruption unit of Sofia City Prosecutor's Office opened an investigation against senior officials of "Irrigation Systems" EAD for mismanagement. The prosecution informed on 3rd of February that the investigation is into damages of over 800,000 BGN.

The pre-trial proceedings have been instituted based on a signal from the executive director of the state-owned company. The information, which was assessed as sufficient to initiate an investigation, is contained in an audit prepared by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food. The audit report found that contracts were concluded in 2014 and 2015 for legal services totaling 790,352 BGN.

Тhe audit of the contracts for legal services found insufficient accountability of the work: no applications/requests with justification for the need of the payments under the contracts were attached to the documents, as well as about the calculations of the amounts.

Large part of the remunerations significantly exceeded the legal fees specified in the relevant Ordinance. At the same time, the company has four lawyers on employment. In the same period, consultancy contracts were signed, under which a total of 55,300 BGN, excluding VAT, was paid, without actual result from their implementation. 16,800 BGN was paid for hired accounting services, while at the same time, the state-owned company had eight accountants and financial specialists.

The audit also found that there was a contract for advertising signed with absolutely unknown media called "Business Directory Struma", worth 48,000 BGN, without having conducted a public procurement procedure. Nearly 20,000 BGN was paid for a contract for services in the area of human resources.