site.btaChecks Are Made in All Oil Companies - PM

Checks Are Made in All Oil Companies - PM

Sofia, October 18 (BTA) - The Bulgarian Government has been served with a note by the Russian Foreign Ministry, the Bulgarian National Radio reported. Reacting to reports that the Bulgarian Ambassador in Moscow has been summoned at the Russian Foreign Ministry, Prime Minister Boyko Borissov told journalists that the note concerns a check of the Customs Agency at the LUKOil oil refinery.

"As you know, we are checking all oil companies," Borissov said adding that the inspections of LUKOil are not something new. It is a fact that since their beginning, the fuel price has dropped considerably and the quality has improved. "When they do something positive, such as the plant, the investments in Bourgas, I go and congratulate them," the Prime Minister noted. In his opinion, noone could reproach the Government for performing checks and seeking what is best for the users and the citizens - high-quality cheap fuel. Checks of other foreign oil companies are also performed, Borissov said adding that he has not received notes from their governments.

There are rules, the Prime Minister continued. He said that if he gives an instruction to the Customs Agency to cancel the check, he will draw criticism for interfering into the work of this institution. Borissov said he has never prevented the Director of LUKOil Bulgaria and the Bulgarian Petrol and Gas Association to submit a complaint to the prosecution authority against the Customs Agency, if they consider the actions of this institution to be illegitimate.

Commenting on a statement of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov regarding the halted Russian projects, Borissov asked rhetorically: "Isn't the Belene N-plant project an insolent corruption scheme?" "A terminated contract, a billions-worth equipment, exported for 90 million US dollars and, finally, what has been left over is just one paddle," he noted. The Bourgas-Alexandroupolis project was designed in such a way that all citizens of Bourgas stood against it over environmental concerns, he recalled. "Am I to be blamed for the halting of this project," he asked. Borissov said further that South Stream was withdrawn because the Russian side was reluctant to observe the terms of the third liberalization package. He also said that the project on the repair of the fighters was offered to Poland because they would not charge VAT and, in this way, it would cost cheaper to the Bulgarian side. "We are not working against them [the Russians]," he underscored.