Ruling GERB party: OLAF’s investigation is into changes of the criteria for supply of cars to Bulgaria’s Ministry of the Interior

The ruling GERB party on February 2 came out with an official position on the investigation by OLAF on the public procurement for the supply of cars for the Ministry of Interior.

"According to OLAF's announcement, the investigation is for the preparation of the public procurement procedure and the change of the criteria for delivery of all-terrain vehicles set in the agreement with the European Commission.

During the term of the caretaker government, these criteria were changed from supply of all-terrain vehicles to SUV vehicles, which in fact did not meet European standards for border protection and counteracting migratory pressure," the party said.

President’s office: We insist on full clarification of the dubious delivery of cars to the Ministry of Interior

"The change of these criteria is a violation of the requirements of the agreement with the EC, which is the subject of the specific investigation by OLAF. The reasons for these changes must be established by the competent authorities.

It is important to note that the Ministry of Interior could not but sign the contract in early 2018, because before that the procurement was appealed successively to the Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC) and the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC), and was confirmed by both bodies. The current Bulgarian Public Procurement Act does not provide for the possibility of revoking an effective decision, confirmed including by the Bulgarian court, " added GERB.

They also note that they consider "the aspiration of the presidential institution to transfer the responsibility for the investigation to someone else as an attempt to raise a political umbrella over Plamen Uzunov".

We remind you that Plamen Uzunov, the Secretary for Legal Affairs and Anti-Corruption of President Rumen Radev, has already been investigated for trading in influence. At the same time, we are not surprised that the Presidency questions the work of the European Anti-Fraud Office, OLAF, because they probably feel above the law," GERB noted.