site.btaRegional Development Minister: PM’s Claim that TISP Is Leaving Government After I Asked for BGN 3.9 Bln Is False Excuse

At a news conference in Sofia Thursday, Regional Development Minister Grozdan Karadjov reiterated that the Prime Minister's claims that Karadjov had asked for an increase of his Ministry's budget by the shocking BGN 3.9 billion, was a false excuse for the rift in the government. The news conference came a day after Karadjov's There Is Such a People Party left the government coalition, causing the Prime Minister to lose his majority in Parliament. "I have never asked for this money," the Minister said.

The Prime Minister actually said that Karadjov had asked for a 3.6 billion leva increase of his Ministry's budget.

“In their panic that they are losing their grip on government, they didn’t know what to say and reverted to the same tactic of talking about thieving companies from when we were electing a new governor of the Bulgarian National Bank, of talking about things that are completely unrelated to the case at hand,” said Karadjov.

The Regional Development Minister also said that he tendered his resignation from the government on Wednesday evening.

Yordan Terziyski MP, Deputy Chair of the parliamentary Regional Policy Committee and member of the Continue the Change party, disproved Karadjov’s statement about never asking for the BGN 3.9 billion budget increase. Terziyski told reporters that he filed an enquiry with the Finance Ministry, which confirmed that Karadjov’s Ministry had requested an additional BGN 3.9 billion on top of their budget of BGN 2.539 billion at the time. The request for the additional funds was made on June 6 and was bearing Karadjov’s signature.