site.btaDSB Leader: More Than One Third of Public Procurements Set to Service Oligarchy

DSB Leader:More Than One Third of Public Procurements Set to Service Oligarchy

Varna, February 22 (BTA) - The available data about stopped public procurements of the worth of over 1,700 million leva lead to the conclusion that one third of all such contracts in Bulgaria are set to service the oligarchy, Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (DSB) leader Radan Kanev said in Varna on Monday.

Prime Minister Boyko Borissov  ordered last week that all major public procurements be stopped and be contracted under a recently adopted new law.

"The stopping of public procurement may be good news but it is not a solution in itself," Kanev said further. It is obvious that the question is about procurement, where the winner is known in advance. He noted that two political measures are needed in order to find a solution: investigation into the reasons why one third of the money given by Bulgarian tax-payers are directed to oligarchic circles through fixed public procurement and a legislative initiative, which will prevent the recurrence of this phenomenon in the future. Kanev commented that the new public procurement law is not better than the previous one and opens minimum eight new corruption doors.

In the meantime, DSB Deputy Chair Atanas Atanassov commented that the terminated public procurement by the Prime Minister, which has received considerable public approval, is "a mere PR action". 

The Prime Minister should give answers to several questions including who has awarded the public procurement, to whom they are subordinated and whether these people will be held liable, Atanassov also said.