Bulgarian press review, February 11, 2010

Press Review
Sofia, February 11 (BTA)



JUSTICE, HOME AFFAIRS

The Thursday dailies report about Operation Octopus, during which former State Agency for National Security (SANS) adviser Alexei Petrov was apprehended. "Troud" writes that Octopus has sucked in Alexei Petrov, Plamen and Yordan Stoyanov, aka The Dambovs, six pimps and 130 strippers. The newspaper quotes the Interior Minister as saying that yesterday the police had rounded up 13 people, five of whom are at top of the chain. Later, Petrov's right hand Toni The Hamster (Anton Petrov) turned himself in, according to "Monitor". Alexei Petrov's handler of the National Security Service (NSS) has also been arrested, writes "Telegraph". Nikolai Nachev, former head of the NSS economic department, has been among those that were detained. Interviewed by "Troud", Prime Minister Boyko Borissov says he is certain that the evidence police has gathered will hold in court.

Alexei Petrov was arrested after a businessman complained that associates of the former SANS adviser hand pressured him to hand over his business to them, or else they threatened to kill him, writes "24 Chassa". According to the daily, three more businessmen volunteered to testify against Petrov after news of his arrest broke out. The dailies report that Petrov's arrest had been videotaped.

"Troud" writes that some of the arrested suspects used sex tapes to blackmail businessmen. During the arrest the police squad found a tiger and a leopard at the house of the Stoyanov Brothers. The daily cites trade unionists that the brothers ran a fraud scheme along with former Kremikovtzi CEO Alexander Tomov. For his part, Tomov says that he spent four months at the steel maker, while the brothers had worked there for over ten years.

The dailies report that the arrested are allegedly part of a group involved in blackmailing, forcible debt collection and racketeering, soliciting to prostitution, drug pushing, embezzlement of funds from the Kremikovtzi AD to the detriment of Bulgarian State, influence trading, money laundering, concealment of income, tax evasion and fraudulent recovery of VAT input tax.

The Order, Lawfulness and Justice party and Tatyana Doncheva are products of Alexei Petrov's political engineering, according to"Monitor" and "Telegraph".

In a "24 Chassa" interview, Prosecutor General Boris Velchev says that ties between the mafia and the government have been severed. Velchev says that now people are sensing a strong-handed government, which is no accident, as the police backed by SANS has proved to be strong and well-organized.The Prosecutor General explains that informants rarely go to the prosecution authorities. Their first stop is the police. Velchev says that more people will be willing to cooperate after the police and the prosecution authorities begin to command more respect.

Interviewed by "Troud", Kristina Patrashkova, chief editor of the Gallery tabloid, says that Prime Minister Borissov and Alexei Petrov have long known each other. They were on the same karate team, they had a joint business and have continued to keep in touch to this day. It may seem a paradox, but the operation against Petrov could be interpreted as an operation against the Prime Minister too, says Patrashkova. In an interview for "24 Chassa", she says that Petrov has nothing to do with the newspaper ownership, which does not mean that Gallery staff does not know him. Often Petrov provided them with information. In the last issue, Petrov said that he had been targeted by the Chief Directorate for Combating Organized Crime and that his arrest was imminent. He provided a document that a member of the Impudent kidnapping ring had beenpressured through use of force to say that Petrov had contracted a killing, which he refused to do, Patrashkova says.

THE HOME SCENE

The dailies report that the Agriculture Ministry will try to regain part of the forests that were swapped under the previous government. Prime Minister Boyko Borissov convened a security council on Wednesday as Bulgaria is facing a fine of 55 million euro by the European Commission over the swaps.

***

In a "24 Chassa" article, Union of Democratic Forces Martin Petrov proposes an elegant way out if those who benefited break off the deals of their own accord.


HEALTH

The Union of Pharmacists in Bulgaria has proposed to the Health Ministry that drugs be sold at fixed prices (based on the highest one) which will cause a rise by 10-15 per cent, reports "Troud", citing the Pharmacy Owners Association.

The daily writes that the European Commission is against as fixed prices of drugs will kill off competition.

***

In an interview for "24 Chassa", Luchezar Ivanov, chair of the parliamentary health committee, says that doctors will be dismissed if they have asked money from patients. Special teams will be running checks. Ivanov notes that family tourism in Spain boomed after a ban on smoking was imposed. As a doctor he is against people smoking in public places.

***

In an interview for "Troud", Roumen Petkov of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) says that its leader should be replaced within three months. Asked why, Petkov says that the BSP has no answer what would happen if Prime Minister Borissov called early elections at the end of year. Petkov says that the party should not seek rejuvenation at any cost despite its pool of potential, but a sense of security. According to Petkov, Georgi Kadiev and Kornelia Ninova lack the experience to control the party, and Iliyana Yotova will not make a good leader. However, for Petkov Dora Yankova has the experience, the leadership skill, is an undisputed authority and has stayed clear of scandals.

ECONOMY

Two more operational programmes (OPs), Competitiveness and Transport, received positive compliance assessment on Wednesday.The total resource that will be available for small and mid-sized businesses under the Competitiveness OP is 1.3 billion euro, Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said. The financial framework for OP Transport is 2 billion euro. Borissov said he hoped that Bulgaria would receive positive assessments under the remaining three operational programmes by the end of the week.

***

"Troud" cites figures of the Bulgarian National Bank, showing 12 new "bank" millionaires in the fourth quarter of 2009. Some 360 households andindividuals have bank deposits which exceed one million leva, totalling 879.9 million leva.

Over 40 per cent, or 22,191 million leva of all loans extended in 2009 were over the one million leva mark. By the end of 20009, 5,238 natural persons and legal entities received seven-digit loans. Their number is 44 down compared with the third quarter of 2009, according to "Klassa". Some 5,124 businesses took loans of over one million leva, worth a total of 21,987 million leva. Their number was 45 down from September. Some 114 natural persons took loans of over one million leva, worth nearly 205 million leva.

***

Associate Professor Vladimir Adamov, Rector of the Svishtov Academy of Economics, has been suspected of plagiarism and will likely be stripped of his doctoral degree.



Links to some Bulgarian info websites in English:

· http://www.bta.bg/site/en/indexe.shtml
· http://www.novinite.com/index.php
· http://www.focus-fen.net/

Most discussed topics of the day – February 11, 2010

· A protected witness of the prosecution in the trial of notorious suspected crime leaders Krassimir and Nikolai Marinov, aka the Marguins, faces perjury charges after he denied knowing them. Sofia City Prosecutor Nikolai Kokinov said that shortly after a hearing on the Marguins' case here Thursday. The witness, Ivo Ilchev, was brought to the courtroom wearing a mask for the Marguins case hearing and was questioned behind a screen. He told the court he does not know and has never spoken to the Marguin brothers.Prosecutor Kokinov said Ilchev had told him that he was threatened after the previous hearing on the case. He said that the prosecuting office have the telephone number of the person who called to threaten the witness and will investigate the case.

· Bulgaria's foreign trade balance in January-December 2009 (with exports in FOB prices and imports in CIF prices) was negative and totalled minus 9,600 million leva, or 9,700 million leva less than in 2008, the National Statistical Institute said Thursday.In FOB/FOB prices (after eliminating the expenses for transport and insurance for imports), the foreign trade deficit amounted to 8,000 million leva, reaching its peak in March and April.According to preliminary estimates, Bulgaria's foreign trade turnover in January - December 2009 amounted to 55,700 million leva at current prices, registering a drop by 29.3 per cent year on year. The imports (in CIF prices) declined by 33.4 per cent from a year earlier and totalled 32,700 million leva. Imports exceeded exports in 2009, in line with 2008 trends. The value of imports exceeded the value of exports by nearly 42 per cent. Following a lasting tendency of recent years, the turnover in the third quarter of 2009 was the highest. Exports and imports peaked in the fourth quarter of 2009, reaching respectively 28 per cent and 26.1 per cent of their annual volumes.

· Bulgaria has received positive compliance assessment for two more operational programmes, Prime Minister Boyko Borissov told journalists in Brussels Thursday. Operational Programme Administrative Capacity is worth 132 million euro and Environment is worth 1,460 million euro, Borissov said before the informal meeting of the heads of state or government of the EU 27. The Operational Programme Administrative Capacity received today a positive compliance assessment, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Simeon Djankov told a news conference Thursday. This makes it the fifth operational programme to receive positive compliance assessment in three days after OP Competitiveness and Transport the previous day, and Technical Assistance and Regional Development a day before. Djankov pointed out that the total sum of interim payments which Bulgaria can use now amounts to 132 million euro.