An inspection was carried out in the building of Bulgartransgaz by National Police and the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) on Tuesday in connection with the expansion of the underground gas storage in Chiren, Bulgartransgaz CEO Kiril Ravnachki told journalists Wednesday.
Bulgartransgaz provided full access to information and assistance on everything related to the public procurement, Ravnachki added. Due to the great volume of information, the inspection in the Bulgartransgaz building lasted ten hours. Given the ongoing inspection, the company's CEO said he could not give further details.
Caretaker Energy Minister Vladimir Malinov said that full cooperation would be provided to the law enforcement authorities of Bulgaria and the European Union to establish the objective truth. He noted that he welcomes the initiation of an investigation by the EPPO because the public procurement for the expansion of the underground gas storage facility in the underground part had already been subject to an inspection by the Public Financial Inspection Agency (PFIA), which was carried out this year. The findings of PFIA have been made public and it has been found that there were no breaches in the initiation, conduct of the procurement and conclusion of the contract, and that all legal requirements were complied with. Malinov announced that on Wednesday he will order the management bodies of Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH) and Bulgartransgaz to suspend the contract until the completion of the audit.
In response to a journalist's question, Malinov also said that he assumed that the reason for the inspection was an alert from the Bulgarian Energy and Mining Forum in early 2024. He explained that the alert was based on an audit opinion by Bulgartransgaz's internal auditor, which Malinov himself commissioned in his previous capacity as the company's CEO. The Energy Minister explained that the contract signed by Bulgartransgaz was for full engineering, meaning that it is entirely the responsibility of the contractor to propose the technical solution for the expansion, and to implement it within the cost that is stipulated in the contract to achieve the set objectives and results: increasing Chiren’s storage capacity to 1 billion cubic metres and its production and injection capacity to 8 to 10 million cubic meters.
The technical solution for the expansion of the underground gas storage in Chiren has been developed by Bulgarian and international specialists and subcontractors, and has been repeatedly reviewed and approved by the expert technical and economic council of Bulgartransgaz, the Energy Minister pointed out. He expressed the hope that there is no potential interest in delaying the implementation of the project. Malinov called for the issue not to be politicized and not to be used in the upcoming election campaign.
/MT/
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