site.btaState Fund Agriculture Has New Management

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State Fund Agriculture
Has New
Management


Sofia, July 19 (BTA) - The Governing Board of the State Fund
Agriculture (SFA) elected a new management of the Fund at a
meeting on Friday, SAF said in a press release.

Vassil Groudev was elected Executive Director, replacing Zhivko
Zhivkov who resigned. Ivan Kapitanov was elected SFA Deputy
Executive Director.

In his resignation letter Zhivkov writes that he does so guided
by the wish to safeguard the reputation of SAF.

Two more SAF executives resigned, deputy directors Kaloyan
Kostadinov and Georgi Dinev.

The changes in SAF's senior management come in the wake of a
raid by law enforcers at SAF earlier in the outgoing week, when
six senior officials were detained and five of them were charged
with malfeasance in office. It later transpired that the operation of the law enforcers was connected with a probe against a large liquor business owner, Minyu Staykov, over misuse of EU funding.

Former SAF deupty director Kostadinov, who is a son of the Chairman of the Secret Police Files Commission Evtim Kostadinov, was charged with involvement in a suspected organized criminal group believed to be masterminded by Staykov.

In the raid at the start of the week, the Specialized Prosecution Office, the Chief Directorate for Combatting Organized Crime and the Counter-Corruption and Unlawfully Acquired Assets Forfeiture Commission conducted searches in the the homes and offices of the six detainees. Two luxury vehicles were impounded, one of which is armoured, owned by Kostadinov, and kept in a garage in Staikov's house. IG, RY, LY/PP, ZH
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