In the last week of August, Bulgarian Transport and Communications Minister Georgi Gvozdeikov will meet with representatives of the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO). The main topic of the talks will be investigations by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and the EPPO on railway projects implemented in Bulgaria financed by European funds.
On Thursday in Burgas, the Minister of Transport said that he wants to familiarize himself in detail with the inspections of the European institutions. He noted that currently there are still no inspections by the European Prosecutor's Office in the Ministry of Transport and the National Railway Infrastructure Company.
"Next week, for my own peace of mind and the plan I have to prepare, I will have to hold this meeting with the representatives of the European Prosecutor's Office," said Gvozdeikov.
Previously, OLAF closed its investigation with a recommendation to recover EUR 38 million and to prevent the expenditure of another EUR 92 million. The European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) is the body that can now decide whether to implement OLAF's recommendations. The European Public Prosecutor's Office investigation has not yet ended and is focused on possible criminal offenses such as misuse of European funds and money laundering, and includes, in addition to the aforementioned one, another railway project, the value of which, according to the European Public Prosecutor's Office, amounts to EUR 111 million.
"Once again, Europe is showing us a "red card" and it is clear that from now on these processes cannot continue in this way. After all, we use fully, a 100%, European funding that is given to modernize our railway infrastructure. We are proving that we cannot manage these infrastructure building processes, we made mistakes for which the Bulgarian state has to pay again. Something has to change. We will work in the direction of improvement and termination of vicious practices", commented the Minister of Transport.
/RY/
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