site.btaDunarit's Delicensing Will Cost Company Workers Their Jobs - Employers

Sofia, August 11 (BTA) - If Dunarit Corp. forfeits its licence to manufacture and trade in firearms and other special-purpose products, the company will lose its market niches and its workers will find themselves in the street, three employer organizations argued in a statement that reached BTA on Friday.

Rousse-based Dunarit manufactures aerial, artillery and engineer ammunition, industrial explosives, and railroad maintenance and repair machines.

The statement, issued by the Bulgarian Industrial Capital Association, the Bulgarian Industrial Association and the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that Dunarit Executive Director Krustyo Krustev has been notified by the Interior Ministry of the launch of a procedure for the withdrawal of the company's arms, explosives and ammunition trading licences.

According to media reports, the prosecution service has pressed charges against Krustev and another senior company executive, as well as Emco weapons manufacturer owner Emilian Gebrev, with siphoning off funds from Dunarit and engaging in money laundering.

"It makes no sense to withdraw duly obtained special-purpose-product manufacturing and trade licences," the employers point out. They call on the Specialized Prosecution Office and the Chief Directorate National Police to treat separately the Dunarit Executive Director's criminal prosecution and the consideration whether the enterprise can stay in business. "We must recall that the steps for the suspension of Dunarit's operation give its competitors a competitive advantage," the statement adds.

"Dunarit will not be closed down, even though its CEO has been implicated in a money laundering scandal," Economy Minister Emil Karanikolov told journalists in Rousse on Thursday. He admitted that, under the law, such charges automatically entail the company's delicensing but added that the plant will not suspend operations. Karanikolov noted that Dunarit is very important for the national defence industry.