site.btaMedia Review: August 15

CRIME

Thursday’s media report that the Anti-Corruption Commission, the Prosecutor's Office and the General Directorate Combating Organized Crime (GDCOC) searched Rumen "the Wolf" Gaytanski's offices and homes for hours. Expensive cars of his companies were confiscated in front of TV cameras.

The whole raid was over a loan of almost BGN 150 million that the state-owned Bulgarian Development Bank gave to his company in 2019.

Violent political reactions have been sparked by this action because these circumstances were known and reported to these same institutions three whole years ago.

"Five years late to see something that has been written about in the media, on blogs, means severe dependencies. The institutions are not doing their job. Someone commands them and they get triggered, but five years later. If it’d been a fire department, we'd have burned. Most likely Gaytanski is protected by the Constitution and the Commerce Act… The thieves steal according to the rules they write," financier Levon Hampartzoumian told bTV's morning show.

"In the Bulgarian Development Bank (BDB), the final decision was not of the former director Stoyan Mavrodiev, but of a collective body. Nothing will happen. How do you give 150 million without securities? This can only happen in a state bank. A private bank will not do it. In the state bank there are other types of motivations and hierarchical subordinations, but on paper everything will be fine," he added.

"Most likely the documentation will hold up in court because they wrote the rules... Nothing will be returned. Consider the money gone. What was done at the BDB may seem unfair, but it is legal," Hampartzoumian stressed.

"This is not the only loan the BDB has provided that has come to public attention. About BGN 1 billion was lent out between 2017 and 2019. It will be telling if the institutions will step in for the other cases because this loan is just one of many. It is normal to look at the others," added Marian Sabev, senior analyst at the Centre for the Study of Democracy.

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More than 500 unique church relics were seized during a specialized operation of GDCOC on Wednesday on the territory of Gabrovo district, Nova TV and other media report. In the course of the action to prevent trafficking, expropriation and possession of cultural relics, searches and seizures were carried out in three properties and a car. One person has been detained for up to 24 hours. The police actions were conducted under the guidance and supervision of the Gabrovo District Prosecutor's Office. 

Holy relics, the holy gospel, two bishops' staffs, icons, liturgical items and church utensils, as well as paintings, coins and weapons were among the items found in the searched private homes. Forensic examinations are pending. According to experts, among the finds, there are unique church relics, some of them priceless. The leadership of the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church has been informed about the police action, the Interior Ministry press centre said.

POLITICS

Dnevnik runs an analysis by Ass. Prof. Ivo Indzhov, media researcher and political observer.

GERB, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), Vazrazhdane, There is Such a People (TISP), Velichie - more than half of the parliamentary formations are leader’s parties, even chieftain’s parties. The characters of Borissov, Dogan, Kostadinov, Trifonov all share one or another trait of a leader, even a priest or guru of their respective tribes. Party chieftaincy is not a typical Bulgarian phenomenon. But in this country, it is extremely dangerous. For it has flourished almost twenty years after Bulgaria’s accession to the EU, the most advanced club of liberal democracies, and twice as long after the beginning of democratic changes here.

The electorate now votes reflexively for or against a leader, not motivated by ideology or governance programmes. Taken to the extreme, the leadership character of parties is one of the reasons for the strong polarization of political discourse and the extremely hostile speech of politicians.

The leadership party with the most weight continues to be GERB. Formally, it is a centre-right, classical conservative formation. Borissov is a soft populist but leads it with a hardline approach. The country, on the other hand, he governed with some elements of autocracy. In practice, GERB is a clientelist formation (it still dominates local government, it still has strong positions in the state administration). It is no coincidence that in 2020 the main demand of the powerful anti-government and anti-corruption protests was for Borissov's resignation. He is the protagonist in at least several "gates".

The MRF has been permanently afflicted by the authoritarian intra-party rule of its founder and long-time leader Ahmed Dogan. It was his absolutist approach that turned like a boomerang against him. For one reason or another, he has over-empowered Delyan Peevski, who is sanctioned by the US and UK for corruption. After Peevski tried to take over the entire party in his well-known style of corporate raiding, the situation in the MRF is a stalemate. The MRF is successfully promoting itself as a liberal formation abroad. At the same time, the majority of its electorate, made up of ethnic Turks and Muslims, lives in poverty.

Kostadinov's chieftaincy in Vazrazhdane should not come as a surprise. Nationalist parties, and not only in Bulgaria, are of a distinctly leadership type. Kostadinov does not have the charisma of Volen Siderov, who led the Ataka party and dominated the nationalist scene with scandals for over a decade. Instead, he controls his party much more coolly.

Against the background of the other formations, the leadership in TISP looks the most obscure. TV showman Slavi Trifonov is the only political leader in Bulgaria who, despite being elected as an MP, has never set foot in Parliament. Due to specific circumstances, he rules his party with an iron hand from a sofa.

The BSP had also acquired chieftaincy traits under the eight-year leadership of Korneliya Ninova, who is now out of the game. Paradoxically, her commanding functions at the head of the socialists diluted the patriarchal character of party leadership in Bulgaria. Now it is embodied only by men.

DROUGHT

Nova reports that the water level is critically low in the Kamchia and Yasna Polyana dams, which provide drinking water for the Black Sea and are half full. In Shumen and Targovishte, the Ticha dam is also half full. This is also the situation with Asenovets, the main water source for Sliven, and Beli Iskar near Samokov.

In Central Bulgaria, the Koprinka dam has only 20% of its total water volume, and Zhrebchevo - 30%. The Yastrebino dam, which also provides backup drinking water, is 40% full. The situation in the Lovech region remains complicated. There is water regime in other settlements.

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Four caretaker ministers are expected to be heard in Parliament on Thursday over water shortages and the water regime in over 200 settlements across the country, the national radio and Nova TV report. 

The ministers of environment and water, of energy, of agriculture and food, and of regional development and public works will provide information at the request of the BSP.

The MPs will also elect the composition of Parliament’s permanent delegations to international organizations, including the Parliamentary Assemblies of NATO, the Council of Europe and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. 

Amendments to the Environmental Protection Act, the Personal Assistance Act and the Family Allowances Act are to be adopted on first reading.

MISCELLANEOUS

Dozens of impounded cars block parking lots, sidewalks and green spaces in Sofia’s Ilinden district, bTV said, based on a viewer’s alert.

Almost the entire Indzhe Voyvoda street, where Sofia’s Third Police Department is located, is blocked by impounded cars of drunk or drugged drivers. Pre-trial proceedings are underway in all cases.

"For two and a half years, I have been constantly writing complaints. However, since yesterday the cars are now parked on the green areas, too" explained Neyka Krasteva, who submitted the alert to bTV.

She also complained that the dozens of parked cars were also obstructing passage on the pavements. "There are remains of a cart that has been sitting here for more than ten years. They explained that it was evidence in a wood theft case. A horse was also tied to the cart, but after we filed a complaint with the 3rd PD, they moved it somewhere," Krasteva added.

The Sofia Police Directorate responded that measures have been taken to build a parking lot where all impounded vehicles will be moved, adding that other PDs in the capital have the same problem.

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According to BNR, Ukrainian refugees with temporary protection who are receiving assistance from the State under a humanitarian programme that provides them with accommodation and food, are to be relocated Thursday from the town of Bankya near Sofia to the Saints Constantine and Helena resort near Varna. Until now, they have been accommodated at the National Revenue Agency (NRA) training centre in Bankya.

The refugees were placed in Bankya about 3 months ago. They do not know the reason for their current relocation, but found out about it from a note hanging in the common room of the building.

These are people over 65 years of age, some of them with illnesses and reduced mobility. They are worried that the hotel, an asset of Sofia Airport, where they will be accommodated, is far from medical centres and grocery stores. There is no escort, medical person or interpreter on the bus with the Ukrainians. The manager of the centre, Velina Vladkova, declined to comment because she is waiting for official permission to do so from the NRA. 

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One of the biggest music festivals in Europe, EXIT, will be held in Varna from August 15 to 18. The world-famous bands Dire Straits, Chambao, Gypsy Kings and Stereo MC's are among the performers this year. The concerts will be free of charge for all residents of Varna and guests of the city, 24 Chasa reports. Varna Municipality is a co-organiser of the festival.

"Varna will welcome the first edition and our ambition is to hold the forum every year. This will be the largest event on the Black Sea coast and will put Varna back on the festival map of Europe," said Mayor Blazmir Kotsev. 

The music forum is a union between two festivals - EXIT Serbia and Breeze Bulgaria, and the pilot edition this year will be held under the name Varna BREEZE by Exit.